


Memories of a stranger

by EirienGER



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Blood and Injury, Explicit Language, Gen, Hospitalization, Kidnapping, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape Aftermath, Violence, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:27:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 46,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29578860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EirienGER/pseuds/EirienGER
Summary: When a killer escapes from prison, an old friend asks Jay Halstead for the help of the Intelligence Unit. The killer wants to finish something, that he started years earlier...(This fanfic takes place at the beginning of season 2, before Jay and Erin got together)
Relationships: Jay Halstead/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the translated version of my fanfic "Fremde Erinnerungen", which I will also post in german here. I am not a native english speaker but I hope that my translation is okay and that you can enjoy reading it. So thanks to everyone who will stick with my story. :-) 
> 
> Dislaimer: This fanfiction is just for fun. No money made, no copyright infringement is intended. All characters belong to their respective owners. This is a fictional story. Similarities with living persons or similar actions/events are purely coincidental and not intended.

Fiora took the last steps up to the "Intelligence" Unit. She always found it strange to have to step through the barred door, before you could finally get to the offices on the upper floor. These were precautionary measures when someone wanted to get into the secured area of the Police Department. The old-fashioned office was home to several desks. Situated at the end of the large room, there was a separate office that belonged to the leader of the Unit, Seargent Hank Voight.

She hesitaded for a moment before she walked towards the second desk on the right side. She was nervous and felt tense, but she couldn´t turn back now. She was desperate and had no idea how to deal with the situation. And that meant, that she had to tell him about it. There was no other way.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?", she asked.

"Well... also a good morning to you.", Jay Halstead replied cheerfully. He was reading in a case file, raised his head and grinned at her. When he noticed the worry on her face, his smile faded and gave way to an expression of concern instead. "Are you okay?", he asked immediately.

She shook her head briefly. "Are we alone?", she asked.

He nodded. "I'm the first one in this morning. Got some paperwork to do.", he got up from his chair, took her arm and pulled her into the small break room, which was located right next to Seargent Voight's office. "What's wrong? Did something happen?", he asked, while he didn't take his eyes off of her.

He sat down and she also took a seat on the small couch, that was situated against the wall on the left. Her heart pounded when she handed him a few printouts. He took the papers and let his gaze wander over the „Wanted" report, that she had printed out earlier.

"Harald Woods,", she said, as he continued to look through the pages. "The day before yesterday he escaped from a prisoner transport and is since then on the run."

"A convicted rapist and murderer... the responsible Department should already be on the case, right?", Jay looked at her again.

She nodded and hesitated for a moment. "I wanted to ask you if it is possible, that the "Intelligence" takes over. Your Unit has the highest clearance rate in the whole district."

He looked at her with worry. "What's the matter, Fi? Tell me."

She ran a hand over her forehead and took a deep breath, before she answered him.

"Woods has killed two women in the past. A third one, barely survived…". He nodded, waiting for her to continue. "The third victim... was me."

It was difficult for her to say it out loud. The last time she had spoken about the incidents had been a few years ago, during her therapy sessions. She had hoped that she would never have to talk about it again.

Jay blinked while he stared at her. Fiora noticed that he turned pale. She lowered her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her body. She hadn´t expected this reaction from him. She hadn´t expected him to be speechless.

"What?", he then gasped in disbelief after a few seconds that had felt like an eternity. "Why ... why don't I know anything about that?"

Out of a reflex, he laid his hand on her arm and her body tensed involuntarily. She stared at his hand and she tried to endure the unfamiliar touch.

Jay was an old friend from Senior High School. He had been the boyfriend of her best friend, Allie. She, Allie and Jay had been in the same circle of friends. They knew each other well, but after Jay had left for the military, they had lost touch. She had only learned from Allie afterwards, that Jay had attended the police academy and that he had become a Detective. She had never expected that they would meet again. Until Fiora started working for the office of the 21st a few months ago.

They had run into each other on her second day at work. And he had visited her in her office several times since then. She had learned from her talkative colleagues, that he had risen from Patrolman to Undercover Cop very quickly. After an injury during an undercover mission, he had had the free choice to decide, to which department he wanted to be transferred to. He had immediately chosen the "Intelligence" Unit. Apparently, he had succeeded very well in the Unit since then.

He had asked her a few times to come to "Molly's" after work with him, but she had always declined. „Molly´s" was a bar, that belonged to the colleagues of Firehouse 51 and it was regularly visited by everyone. Surely, at some point, he had accepted that she was no longer the same person as she was before. But he had no idea about the reason.

Even now she didn't want to look like a desperate little girl in front of him, but this was damn serious and it brought back too many memories. Memories, she'd never wanted to bring back. But she had to, she had no choice.

"It was shortly after High School,", she began to tell him in a low voice. "I actually wanted to start my internship."

"I remember,", he said. "You wanted to go to ... Norway for a few months?"

She nodded as she continued to speak. "I've never been to Norway."

"But..."

"I was never there, because I was in the hospital…", she hesitated before continuing, feeling nauseous as she remembered. "The weekend before the internship was supposed to start, I was at a party. .. Woods was there too. I met him there. He was charming, handsome. He got me a drink. We talked. I thought he was a nice guy... Shortly afterwards, I got dizzy and I went out for some fresh air. He said, he wanted to help me and he followed me..."

She couldn't get any further, she had to stop. He squeezed her hand, but Fiora pulled it away.

"Sorry..." she said and got up. She took a few steps to the opposite side of the room and looked out the window. He got up too and followed her. She crossed her arms over her chest again and turned her back to him. "I was lucky,", she said in a trembling voice. "I was his first victim. His test subject, so to speak... he left me behind, badly injured. But after that, he started killing the women that he... he kidnapped."

"Fiora ...", she felt his hand on her shoulder, but she remained facing the window.

She didn't want to look at him, because she didn't want to cry in front of him. "I remember everything," she said. "I was there with him, for three days. This person is... sick. A psychopath. He cannot walk free. He can´t be out there." When she turned around, Jay gave her a compassionate look as she tried to hold back the tears. "I saw him. This morning," she continued, getting to the point of why she was forced to tell him. "At first I thought, I was seeing ghosts... I ran into the office and typed his name into the search program. Only then did I find out, that he had fled. He was here at the Police Station, when I arrived this morning! How can he know? How can he know, that I work here?", she looked at him tensely.

"He was here? Maybe, he´s still there?", he turned around and wanted to run downstairs, but Fiora called after him to stop him.

"No. He's gone.", she said. "When he noticed that I recognized him, he disappeared."

Jay came back. "I'll talk to Voight right away. He'll be here in a few minutes.". Suddenly he sounded angry. "I promise you, we'll find him."

She looked at him gratefully and nodded. She was relieved, that he would help her.

Seargent Voight was Jay's supervisor, a long-time detective that everyone in the station thought highly about. He was considered a tough investigator with lots of connections. Together with his long-time colleague, Alvin Olinsky, they were a successful team that had had an extraordinary career in all of their years working for the City of Chicago.

"I am very sorry...", Jay then added with a serious expression.

"It´s fine," she said, lowering her head. "It's just... I just want him to be locked behind bars again, you know?."

"Nothing is fine at all," he replied and went to his phone. "I'll request the files immediately."

  
/  
  


Jay was upset. He couldn't believe what Fiora had just told him. He hadn't seen her in so many years and now that she had come back into his life, he had to find out that she had lived through hell. He had already wondered how much she had changed in the meantime. And with the knowledge he had now, it all finally made sense.

He had tried more than once to lure her out of her shell. He´d tried to introduce her to the rest of the colleagues, but she had always blocked him. From what he'd heard, she was good at her job and she was popular, but no one really knew any specifics about her.

That she had come to him with her problems probably meant, that she hadn't seen any other way. He thought about it: If Woods had dared go anywhere near the Police Station, he had to be after her. It was important that they kept an eye on her.

She was still sitting on the couch in the break room, while he had made a few phone calls and had already requested the files on Woods. When Seargent Voight came up the stairs, he immediately got up from his chair and walked towards him.

"Morning ... Seargent, can I speak to you for a moment?", he asked his superior and followed him, as he made his way through the office.

"Halstead?", he replied curtly. Then he saw Fiora in the break room. "Who´s this?"

Jay stopped next to him. "This is Fiora Hillsen from the administrative office on the first floor. She's been working there for a few weeks and she has asked us for help. I think we should take the case, Sir. Can we talk to you about it?"

Voight nodded. "Let me take off my jacket, okay? Then I'll be with you."

Jay went into the break room next door.

"Fiora, are you coming?", he asked her and let his gaze wander over her. She looked like a pile of misery. "I'll just start and talk to the Seargent.", he tried to calm her down a bit.  
  


/

  
"So it's very likely that he's after her. Maybe he wants to finish, what he did to the other victims.", Jay concluded his report to Seargent Voight.

Fiora was glad that he'd done most of the talking, while they sat in Seargent Voight's office. The older one eyed her thoughtfully and nodded.

"Okay. We'll take the case,", he said. "Fiora, you'd better stay here. You are safer here and we can do our work."

"Thank you, Seargent," she said. "If Woods shows up, you can use me.", she then suggested. "I want him behind bars again, as soon as possible."

"No.", Jay said, shaking his head while he looked at Voight. "That´s no option here."

"I agree." said the Seargent. "Let's try to find the guy first. To be honest, you look pretty worn out, Fiora. Take a little rest. As I just said, you are safe here. "

Fiora didn't understand why Voight wouldn´t want to take the quickest way to find Woods. But if he decided differently, she'd have to obey. She glanced over at Jay. His expression showed determination too. He wouldn't let her put herself in danger. She realized, that she had to let the Detectives do their job.

"Thanks again," she said. "But if I'm already here, then I'll at least go down to our office and finish some work."

"Fine, do that. I'll instruct Seargent Platt to keep an eye on you.", Voight answered.

Seargent Trudy Platt was the first person you met as soon as you entered the 21st District. Among other things, she was in charge of reception, she registered visitors and assigned fellow Patrolmen. She managed the vehicle fleet and was well informed about all matters in the District. If Fiora was being honest, Seargent Platt could be a little scary. She had to get used to her at first.

"I'm definitely not going out there, Sir," she said. She didn´t want that the Seargent sat in her neck all day long.

He smiled briefly. "Go and have a cup of coffee in the break room, before you go downstairs. I'll talk to Halstead for a moment. "

Fiora rose. With trembling legs she walked to the door and went outside. The other members of the "Intelligence" had also arrived in the meantime and Adam Ruzek came up to her. Officer Ruzek was, along with Kevin Atwater, one of the newer colleagues in "Intelligence" and was a little bit younger than Fiora.

"What's going on?", he asked. "You don't look good..."

"I'm okay, Adam. Thank you... ", she replied briefly and stepped into the break room. He wanted to follow her, but at that moment Jay and Voight came out of his office.

"Okay. Everyone, listen. We have a new case," Voight announced.  
  


/

  
"And you were alone at the scene of the accident?", Jay asked, after he and his partner, Erin Lindsay, drove to Firehouse 51.

According to the file, Woods had escaped after an accident between the prisoner van and a delivery truck. Jay wanted to hear the exact details from the two paramedics that were on scene. Gabriella Dawson and Sylvie Brett had been the First Responders called in.

"The collegues of the Fire Engine were also there.", Gabriella reported. "It looked bad, the car was flipped on its side, the two police officers in the front area were seriously injured. The colleagues had to use the rescue scissors to break open the door. They were busy at the front. We had to assume, that the inmate was also injured and that he needed our help. So Mills and Otis opened the back door for us, so we could provide first aid."

Peter Mills and Brian Zvonecek, called "Otis", were both colleagues at the Firehouse 51 and Jay knew them from various missions or through meetings at Molly's. Otis was one of the owners of the bar and was often serving behind the counter.

"What happened then?", Erin asked further and she pointed to an injury on Gabriella's face. "Was that him?"

She nodded and Sylvie Brett, a pretty blonde who had just recently started at the station, continued.

"As soon as the two had opened the lock, they lifted the door and the inmate stormed out immediately. He lunged at Gabriella and knocked her down. Before Otis and Mills could react, he had already reached me and put an arm around my neck. He pulled me away from the others. Casey was talking to him and Severide wanted to approach him, but the inmate had a sharp object in his hand. He pressed it against my neck and pulled me on."

Matthew Casey and Kelly Severide were both the Superiors of Truck 81 and Rescue Squad 3. They were responsible for their colleagues.

"The inmate wasn't handcuffed?", Jay asked, puzzled.

Brett shook her head. "The cuffs were in the van. He must have freed himself with the object he threatened me with. I had the first aid kit in my hands and when he was distracted for a moment, I turned around and hit him on the head with it. He angrily pushed me away and ran. "

"You were lucky...", Erin said. "The guy is extremely violent. A rapist and a murderer."

Gabriella gave Jay a tense look and he nodded. At least they had become friends, since the two of them were no longer together. He was glad that nothing worse had happened to her and her new colleague.

Gabriella was the younger sister of his colleague, Antonio Dawson and she was also one of the owners of „Molly´s". She and Jay had grown closer when he was supposed to spy upon „Molly's" during an undercover mission. He´d fallen in love with the pretty dark-haired very quickly and they had spent an exciting time together.

"Was the inmate injured, as far as you could tell?", he asked.

"A head wound and he limped slightly, when he ran away. He was lucky. The delivery truck crashed into the front of the van.", Gabriella said.

"Thank you.", Jay nodded to the two of them.

"Okay, thank you very much.", Erin agreed and she turned to him. "How the hell did that guy smuggle something into the van to free himself?", she then asked.

Jay had thought the same. It all sounded like it was an inside job. "We have to ask the two drivers. We have to find out, who brought Woods into the van.", he replied and took his cell phone out of his pocket.  
  


/

  
"Hillsen?" Fiora raised her head when she heard her name and turned towards the door. Trudy Platt stood in the entrance to the office and stuck her head in. "The colleagues are back, you should come up."

"Thank you, Seargent. ", she answered and got up. "Do you already know something?"

Platt just shook her head. Fiora sighed. Maybe, with luck, that nightmare was already over... She'd hidden down in her office for the day, trying to get as much work done as possible. But her mind kept wandering. She had kept wondering, what the Detectives were doing to find Woods.

With a pounding heart, she followed Seargent Platt to the number pad next to the barred door that led to the "Intelligence" Unit. Platt keyed in her number and put her hand on the scanner, then the door was released. Fiora appreciated that the Seargent had accompanied her this far. After all, she also had the access code for the upper floor. Trudy Platt was often a bit scary, but Fiora had learned after a while, that she had a good heart and was definitely helpful, as long as she was treated friendly and with honesty.

"I hope they got the bastard.", the older one said and Fiora nodded gratefully to her before stepping through the door.

When she got upstairs, she realized that all the colleagues in the Unit had gathered at their desks. Seargent Voight stood in front of a large bulletin board and looked at her. Fiora felt uncomfortable, as they were all staring at her. Nadia, who had recently just started working for the Unit as a secretary, looked at her sympathetically. Fiora gave her a faint smile and then awkwardly raised her hand to greet everyone in the room, before she buried her hands in her pockets.

Her gaze wandered to the pin board, where, among other things, two photos of Woods were shown. One from the time when he was first arrested, from back when he had her under his control... Next to it, was one that must have been recorded recently and on which he looked significantly older. Fiora had although recognized him immediately on the street. She would never forget those piercing, dark eyes...

There were also other photos, including two pictures of young women. She realized, that it had to be the two murder victims. The two girls who weren't as lucky as she was. She had never seen their faces before… Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes and she blinked.

She was grateful that her own picture was not pinned there and that the colleagues had apparently also not pinned the photos of her which had been taken in the hospital, after her own abduction.

"Well, now we're complete,", Voight said at that moment and beckoned her closer. "we'll summarize this day again for everyone."

His words pulled her out of her thoughts and she took a few steps forward. She stopped next to the first desk and Detective Dawson offered her his chair. She just shook her head no and crossed her arms again in front of her upper body.

Alongside with Al Olinsky, Antonio Dawson had been one of the first detectives to be assigned to the "Intelligence" and he was now a close friend of Seargent Voight.

"Woods is unfortunately still on the run.", Voight said and her hopes were crashed within one second. "We found out, how he managed to escape. The van that was supposed to transfer him to another prison had an accident. The officers were injured. Due to the accident, the paramedics opened the back of the car to provide first aid. Woods used this moment to flee. He knocked down a paramedic and dragged the second one with him. Fortunately, however, she was able to break free. She stated, that Woods was apparently only slightly injured."

Fiora swallowed. She felt for those involved. Voight nodded and Jay got up to continue the report. He gave her a concerned look, before he started to speak.

"Erin and I interviewed the paramedics this morning.", he began.

Detective Erin Lindsay was about the age of Jay and Fiora, and from what she'd heard, she was Seargent Voight's foster daughter. He had taken her in as a teenager. She had followed in his footsteps and had made her way into the „Intelligence" Unit also.

"The paramedics stated, that Woods had freed himself from his handcuffs and ankle cuffs in the van and that he was carrying a sharp object.", Jay continued. "We drove to Chicago Med, where the two drivers are still being treated. Both stated, that Woods was brought into the van by a relatively new guard, Sean Parker.", Jay stuck another photo to the Bulletin board. "Parker has not shown up for work since the incident and is nowhere to be found. His apartment was empty, when we got there. Several surveillance videos of Stateville Prison show Parker and Woods talking to each other. We have to assume, that he is involved in Woods escape."

Fiora let out a breath and suddenly, she felt dizzy. How could it be, that Woods had a helper in prison? A guard? She steadied herself and looked at Jay, who continued.

"The driver of the delivery truck who caused the accident, is inconspicuous. No major offenses so far. His name is Marc Campell. He was only slightly injured and has already been discharged from the hospital. We will question him about the accident tomorrow."

"This morning, Fiora saw Woods here at the station.", Seargent Voight now took over. "After that, he dissapeared. The further search during the day was unsuccessful. It can be assumed that with the help of Parker, he has a shelter and money available. Which means, tomorrow we start where we left off today.", Voight now turned to her." Fiora, since it cannot be ruled out that he will continue to pursue you, we will place a Patrol in front of your house. "

She looked at him. Did he assume, that Woods also knew her home address?

"Nothing will happen to you, we will take care of it.", he nodded at her. "Okay... Everybody, I´ll see you tomorrow."

With these words, the Seargent closed the meeting and everyone in attendance rose. Detectives Dawson and Lindsay came up to her. Fiora absent-mindedly assured them that everything was fine and she thanked them for their work.

Jay was talking to Al Olinsky and she suddenly realized, that she wanted to be alone right now. She was grateful for everything that Jay had done for her today and she would talk to him later, but at least for a few minutes she wanted to hide in a corner and try to calm down a bit. She turned, so she could go back downstairs.

"Where are you going?", Jay called from behind and ran after her, even before she had set foot on the first step.

Fiora stopped. "Downstairs ... I only need a few minutes to be able to think clearly again... And then, I´ll head home.", she replied.

He placed himself in front of her. "You can't go home tonight. A Patrol in front of your house isn´t enough for me. He could have found out where you live by now and he could be waiting for you there. Hell, he could ambush you on the way to your car. "

She looked at him. She had always thought her apartment was safe. It was located in a larger residential complex, in a good neighborhood. The parking lot of the Precinct was guarded, she parked in an underground car park at home...

"Do you really think ...?", she started, but she immediatly felt stupid while she was asking the question, when she saw his reaction.

He leaned forward a little, so that no one could listen.

"Did you just hear what we said? The guy knocked down one paramedic and threatened the second. He has one or more helpers. He knew where you work and he was here this morning. At a Police Station ... I think he would do anything to get to you."

She looked at him indecisively. Where could she go? Her parents lived in Boston and since she had only lived in Chicago for a few months, she had no one to stay with.

"Come home with me," he said, when he saw her hesitation. "You get the bed, I sleep on the couch."

"No ... I... I can also get a hotel room.", she replied quickly.

"Fiora, that wasn't a question,", he insisted. "No matter where you go to alone tonight, he could ambush you. I'll stay with you, okay?"

She rubbed her hand over her face and still hesitated. But finally, she nodded in agreement.  
  


/  
  


„Come in.", he held the door for her and she went into his apartment.

When entering the apartment, you immediately stood in the living room. A couch was placed in front of a small television, set in a bay window. A guitar hung on the wall next to an armchair, next to it was a small table. From here you could see into the bedroom, which was connected to the living room with a sliding door made of dark wood. A three-part art print showing a motorcycle hung over the large bed. At first glance this was a typical male household, but everything was tidy and clean. The rooms provided a warm and inviting atmosphere.

"The kitchen is over there," he said, nodding his head in the direction. "Get something to drink from the refrigerator if you want. I'll put on fresh bed sheets and look for more comfortable clothes for you."

With that, he disappeared into the bedroom and closed the door. Suddenly she felt a little bit lost. She wouldn't just go to his fridge... She put her handbag down by the couch and looked around again.

"You don't have to put fresh bed sheets on,", she called. "the couch looks comfortable."

"It is.", he appeared in the door frame with a fresh T-shirt, after opening the door a bit. "But there is a rule with us Halsteads. The guest gets the bed." He walked up to her and handed her a shirt and sweatpants. "The bathroom is over there. Towels are on the shelf, if you want to take a shower." He then disappeared back into the bedroom.

With the clothes in her arms, she walked towards the bathroom. She stepped in and locked the door behind her. She leaned her back against it for a moment and took a deep breath. She wasn't used to having someone around her all the time and she longed to be alone. After the incident with Woods, she had broken off nearly all contacts and had made very few friends since then. It was still difficult for her to get closer to anyone but her family.

After a moment, she finally began to undress. She was glad to get out of the clothes of the day. She found the towels and took a quick shower. Then she slipped into the clothes that Jay had given her. She almost drowned in his pants and so she rolled up the legs. The shirt was huge, but it smelled of fresh laundry and she felt good in it. She simply tucked it into the waist of the pants.

She went to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. They were right, she didn't look good. She had dark circles under her eyes, her cheeks and neckline were flushed with nervousness. She splashed some cold water in her face, took a few more breaths and tied her wet hair into a ponytail. She folded her clothes and placed them on the small stool, that was located in the corner of the bathroom. Then she unlocked the door and stepped outside.

Jay was sitting on the couch with the television turned on. He was now also wearing sweatpants. Fiora stepped closer and walked around the couch. He laughed, when he saw her in his clothes.

"My goodness! Haven't you grown since High School? "

She smiled and sat on the other end of the couch. "Apparently not... But thanks for the stuff,", she said.

He just nodded and examined her briefly. Apparently it was a strange situation for him, too.

"What do you want to drink? A beer? A coke?" he said then. "Are you hungry? There are some Chinese noodles in the refrigerator..."

"I ... I'm not hungry, thanks.", she said. "To be honest, I'm pretty exhausted... Would it be okay if I went to bed right away?"

„That´s fine. Of course... Do you need anything else? Water?"

"That would be great..."

He got up and went into the kitchen. Then he came back with a small bottle of mineral water. "If there should be anything else, you know where I am.", he said, as he handed her the bottle.

"Thanks, Jay, for everything... And good night.", she said before taking her handbag, walking towards the bedroom and pulling the door shut behind her.  
  


/

  
Jay watched her, while she disappeared into the bedroom. Fiora looked really exhausted and he could understand that she called it a day. He just wondered if it would ever be normal again, like it used to be when they were younger. When he thought back, he only had memories of good times that they had spent with their friends. Fiora had been a loud, fun-loving girl, full of plans and ideas for her future. He had always thought that she had a great life ahead of her. And then someone like Woods came along and destroyed it all... It made him angry to think about it.

He took a sip from his beer bottle and tried to concentrate on the television program, but his mind kept wandering. He couldn't stop thinking about how different Fioras and his life had turned out. So different than they had planned back then, when they were only young adults.

The death of his mother, who died of cancer, had thrown him completely off track. Since then, the already difficult relationship with his father had shattered even more. His older brother, Will, hadn't been a support either. Will had just wanted to reach his goals and became a Doctor. He had left him with his father during a time, when they both had needed him most. At least that's how Jay felt about it, but he had never said it out loud.

Jay's volunteering for military service seemed right at the time. He went to defend his country in a war. But if he admitted it to himself, it had also been some kind of escape. An escape from his situation, from his grief.

What he had then experienced during the war had overshadoed the problems at home. The things that had happened there... he could not have imagined these things in his worst nightmares.

But the problems in Chicago were still there, too. And they lurked in the dark all the time, deep inside him...

Sighing, he turned off the television, got up from the couch, and brought the bottle back in the kitchen. His gaze fell on one of the whiskey bottles, that stood on the upper shelf above the counter. He briefly thought about pouring himself a drink, but then he dismissed the thought. He had to be awake and focused the next day and Fiora shouldn't get a wrong impression of him. Instead, he went to the bathroom to get ready for the night.  
  
/  
  


The next morning, Fiora had woken up early. She had waited until she could hear noises from outside and until she was sure, that Jay was also up. She waited until he had showered, before she opened the bedroom door. He was folding up a blanket that he must have used during the night.

"Good morning.", she said and stopped in the doorway.

"Morning.", he turned to her and ran a hand through his wet, tousled hair. "Were you able to sleep?"

She nodded. She had actually gotten a few hours of sleep and she couldn't deny that it had been comforting to have Jay sleeping in the next room. "Thanks again.", she said, "Can I help you with something?"

He shook his head. "I'll make some coffee. You can go to the bathroom. There are some travel essentials in the cabinet above the sink. Toothpaste, deodorant, travel toothbrush... Take what you need."

"That's great, thank you."

"Don't keep thanking me all the time.", he laughed softly. "Go on, so we can have breakfast."

She smiled slightly to herself as she walked over to the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and took a deep breath. She felt much better that morning and she hoped that Woods would be caught today...  
  
/  
  
\- To be continued -


	2. Chapter 2

/  
  
"I'm just saying, that Fiora should talk to someone about the current developments.", Erin finished her sentence, as they walked up the steps to the small building, to knock on the front door.

They had gone to the van driver's residence first thing in the morning to question him.

"I don't think she'd open up to anyone right now,", Jay replied. "I know her from when we were young... But she doesn't even talk to me."

"Give her some time.", Erin said. "Maybe you should just let the Psychologist know and have her approach Fiora?"

"She'd be mad, I think.", he answered. He felt uncomfortable talking to Erin about Fiora's current condition. "Let's wait and see what happens next.", he concluded the conversation.

He raised his hand and knocked on the door. "Police!", he called out and they waited. After a moment, a man of about forty opened the door. He had a large, red bump on his forehead and he looked at them with large eyes.

"Yes?", he asked.

"Chicago Police. Mr. Campbell?", Erin asked.

He nodded. "Is this about the accident?"

"Sir, you caused an accident that led to the injury of two Stateville Jail Officers and the escape of an inmate.", Jay began. "We are investigating the case and would like to hear your version on how the accident occurred and if you noticed anything unusual."

The man seemed nervous, but he opened the door a little further and invited them in. They entered the wooden house and Jay could tell that this Campell didn't have a lot of money, from the looks of the place.

"Please, have a seat.", he had led them into the living room and pointed to a worn out, old sofa while sitting down on an armchair opposite of them.

"Mr. Campell, where were you headed on the day of the accident and how long have you worked for the meat producer, whose van you were driving?", Erin took over the questioning.

Campell cleared his throat. "Um, first I want to say that I'm very sorry about everything that happened... I just wasn't fit that day. I just didn't notice the stop sign at the intersection."

They both nodded. "The two officers will be alright, Sir. Please answer our questions now,", Jay prompted him.

"I was on my way over to Andersonville and I was supposed to deliver to a large supermarket there. I've been working for the company for two years. My boss wasn't thrilled that I wrecked one of his trucks..."

"It can happen to anyone.", Erin said. "When the Fire Department was on scene, were you conscious?"

"Yes. I saw everything. After the accident I went to check on the two drivers. But there was blood everywhere... and then several people came up to me. They had already called for help and I was told to sit down on the ground. Shortly after that, two fire trucks and an ambulance arrived."

"When the firefighters opened the back of the prisoner transport, what happened? Were you able to see that?", Jay asked.

Campell nodded. "This guy in orange clothes jumped out and immediately punched one of the paramedics. She went down and he grabbed the other one, a blonde young woman. He pulled her along with him and threatened her, so all the bystanders stayed away from him... then she somehow managed to get free and the guy ran away, immediately disappeared down a side street and that was it."

"When did the Police arrive?", Erin asked.

"Shortly after that. But I guess the guy was already gone, huh?", he smiled sheepishly.

Jay took in a deep breath. "Thank you, Mr. Campbell. That'll do it for now.", he said, not responding to his comment. "If you think of anything else, let us know." He pulled out a business card with the Unit's contact information from his pocket and handed it to him.  
  
/  
  
Fiora's hopes, that the nightmare would end, were dashed again after the Detectives returned to the precinct that evening. She learned, that Woods had been seen at her apartment that night. Unfortunately, the Patrol Officers had failed to catch him. Woods had dissapeared in the darkness of the night. She was shocked that he actually knew where she lived and that he had shown up at her place. All other search efforts had failed that day, so they were still at square one.

"Could he have gotten out of town?", she asked a little later, while she was sitting with Jay in Voight's office.

The Sergeant shook his head. "We've sent his photo out to all the Officers. The manhunt is in full swing. He's not getting out of Chicago unseen."

"What are you going to do next?", she asked.

"Maybe, we do need to talk about the possibility of using you as a decoy. Obviously he does have something specific in mind for you, since he was at your apartment building last night.", Voight said.

Fiora swallowed and her heart pounded violently against her rib cage, while her breathing quickened. She couldn't stop a tear from escaping her now after all. She quickly removed it with the back of her hand. She was insanely afraid of Woods, but she knew that the Officers were running out of options. She still was convinced that she had to help, so she made a decision.

"As I said before, I'll do it. Every day that this monster is out there on the loose, is one day too many. He could hurt another woman at any time. I want to help, no matter what."

"Good.", Voight rose, walked to the door of his office and opened it, "Then we'll discuss how to proceed in the morning."

Fiora nodded to him. Jay rose silently and stepped out, Fiora followed him. They walked a few steps, then Jay turned and took her arm. Astonished, she looked at him, but he pulled her with him to the left, into the hallway that led to the interrogation cells.

"Why do you want to do that? It's too dangerous!", he whispered. He was upset.

"Like I said. I don't want him to be able to hurt any others. I can help.", she replied.

"I don't want him to hurt you!", he said firmly. He looked her in the eyes, then he finally let go of her arm as she pulled it free at that moment.

"You'll be there to watch out.", she returned, trying to sound confident. "It's going to be okay." She didn't know if she was trying to reassure him or herself with that.

He took in a deep breath. "We'll talk about this again later, okay?", he answered.

"I'm sorry, you're mad, but...", she began.

"I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at Voight!", he interrupted her. Without another word, he stepped out of the hallway and went back into the office.

Fiora stopped for a moment and looked after him. She was trembling. So Jay was against the plan of sending her in as a decoy. But what would happen if she didn´t help? What if Woods would grab someone else instead? She wouldn't risk that. She knew what awaited his victims...

She waited a moment longer, before she went back to her office. She avoided any eye contact with the Detectives and headed downstairs as quickly as possible.  
  
/  
  


Jay sat down at his desk and stared at his screen, not really seeing anything on it. Everything inside him was against the plan to put Fiora in danger. He was sure that they would catch Woods some other way.

He had discussed this matter with Voight earlier in the afternoon. He had tried to make him understand, that she was in no shape to put on a show. The way she was acting, in his opinion, she was in an extremely unstable state. Apparently, she had convinced herself that she had to help. But no one could actually demand that of her. He decided to convince her to withdraw the offer. He stood up and walked toward the stairs.

"Halstead?", Seargent Voight called out in the background and he stopped. "My office." Jay turned around and looked at his Supervisor. He clenched his teeth. "Now.", Voight added.

Reluctantly, he started moving and followed Voight into the room. He closed the door behind him and remained standing, while the Seargent sat down.

"Have a seat.", he said.

"Thanks, I'd rather stand.", he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"What's the matter with you?", Voight asked. "You act like you have to protect this girl from everything. I understand you're emotionally involved because you already know each other, but you need to take a step back and treat this like you would treat any other case."

Jay stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"Is there anything I should know about her? Are you having an affair with her?", the elder one asked freely.

"No, Sir!", Jay replied immediately. "I just care about her."

"Then do your job, as you normally would. We can't have you endangering the Unit with your behavior, understand?"

"Sir, I was merely expressing my concern about putting Fiora out there."

Voight looked into his eyes. "Jay, sit down.", he repeated more gently. This time Jay complied to the request. "This is not about you expressing your concerns. I always want to hear what you have to say. But your suppressed anger, I can literally feel it. Shake it off. Otherwise, I'm going to pull you off this case, okay?"

Jay stared at him. His heart was racing and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He had actually been angry and frustrated since they had left Campell's house. They had accomplished nothing that day either. He lowered his eyes and nodded.

"We'll make a plan tomorrow on how to proceed.", Voight continued. "And you keep a low profile and don't try to influence Fiora. Do you understand me?"

He nodded again, then he rose. "Are we done?", he asked.

Voight looked at him. "We are. Go.", he then said and Jay started moving.

He stepped outside and headed for the restrooms. He needed to be alone for a few minutes. The problem was, that he was still convinced that he had to keep Fiora away from danger. No matter what Voight had just said to him. He didn't know if he would be able to submit to his orders this time.

He entered the restroom and went to the sinks. After turning on the cold water, he let it flow over his wrists. Voight had asked him if he and Fiora were having an affair... He wondered how obvious it was that he felt for her. He had been trying to keep a low profile all this time.

He had liked her back in High School and seeing her again now, had brought back all the old feelings. Her behavior, however, had made him realize that she wanted nothing to do with him. But now he knew why she was acting like this towards him and towards anyone. Her whole behavior was caused from the incidents with Woods, these had influenced her true nature.

He had to admit to himself that he had fallen in love with her and that he had a strong feeling that he had to protect her at all costs. He looked in the mirror and realized, how stressed he looked. All the worry didn't help... He had to do what he thought was right. Otherwise, he would betray himself.  
  
/  
  
  
"Pack some clothes.", Jay said as he waited in the hallway of her apartment.

After they had left the police station, he had driven her to her apartment building. He had been incredibly taciturn and had insisted on going upstairs with her. First, he had checked the rooms to make sure that Woods had not gained access, before letting her in.

The tension between them was almost unbearable for Fiora. She would have preferred to send him away and stay back alone, but that was not an option. She went to her closet and picked out two sets of fresh underwear, as well as some clothes for the next day. She hoped that she could sleep in her own bed again soon. That everything that Seargent Voight planned would go well and that Woods would be in prison again by tomorrow.

"I'll be ready in a minute!" she called out, as she searched for a bag. She found a suitable one at that very moment when Jay appeared in the doorway.

"Take something you can fit a vest under tomorrow," he said.

She had just stuffed the items into the bag and paused in her movement.

"You didn't think of that, did you?", he continued in a sarcastic tone. "Vest, microphone, tracker. They might even give you a gun so you can defend yourself..."

"Stop it!", she interrupted him. "That's enough. You can tell me about these things tomorrow. I understand that you're still angry, but..."

"I don't want you to do that!", he interrupted her, now stepping into the room. "We'll find another solution.", he then added.

Fiora took in an audible breath. She had had no idea how persistent this man could be... "Another solution would mean, that he still might be out there for days. He is a danger not just to me but also to others. Voight thinks, it's the right thing to do."

"I know he does. But...", he hesitated for a moment before finishing the sentence. "I've seen the photos. Your photos."

Fiora froze and she avoided his gaze. She knew immediately which photos he meant. The photos that showed her injuries from back then. The wounds, the bruises and lacerations. Her heart began to race.

"Do you want him to do something like that again?", he continued, walking towards her. "What if Voights plan gives him the opportunity?"

Jay had no idea that the photos were far from showing what Woods had actually done to her. The pictures had documented the physical injuries. But they did not show the injuries, that he had inflicted on her mind. She remembered the „rules" and „orders" that Woods had given her and she tried to push the memories away.

Although she had been aware of the fact that the Detectives must have looked at all the evidence, she felt as if he had betrayed her. With his words, he tried to force her into a corner. She was aware of that, but at the same time she felt ashamed that he had seen her like that...

"Stop it...", she said in a trembling voice as she looked at him. She felt a wall building up inside her, while she was pushing her limits. "Stop using the photos to talk me out of it!"

"You almost bled to death! He stabbed a knife in your abdomen. He left you for dead!"

"I know!", she exclaimed as the wall inside her collapsed and the fear took over at that moment. "I remember every damn minute! Do you think I chose this? Any of this? Of course I wish I didn't have to do this! I'm scared! I'm really scared!" She couldn't hold back the tears any longer and she dropped to her knees. With her hands she covered her face. She noticed that he approached her.

"I'm sorry...", he said and she realized that he sounded surprised. He crouched down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!", she hissed, pulling her shoulder back. He immediately took his hand away.

"Fiora..."

She lifted her head and looked at him. "I'm going to do it, because it's the right thing to do. Would you do anything different, if you were in my situation?" She shivered, but she held his gaze. "Would you?"

He swallowed and stared at her with reddened cheeks. Then he shook his head and then he sat down on the floor. She hid her face from him again, trying to get her emotions under control. She took in a deep breath and tried to stop the panic attack. But she knew, once the threshold was crossed, it was hard to stop.

"Hey... easy.", he said softly, as he sat next to her. "Take deep breaths and exhale slowly... that will help, trust me."

She wished he would vanish, because she couldn´t tell her feelings apart anymore. She felt ashamed, but she was also angry at him. And the overwhelming fear of Woods, that she had felt years ago, was back with full force.

After a moment, she tried to follow Jay's instructions. She breathed more deeply and finally felt the tightness in her chest slowly easing. Her heartbeat was calming down a bit...  
  


/

  
Jay stared in horror at Fiora's huddled form, as she sat in front of him, crying and shaking. He felt ashamed of himself. Ashamed that he couldn´t hold himself back, that his conviction that he had to stop her, had driven him that far. He had disobeyed Voight's orders and he´d let his anger take over his actions.

The moment she had started to cry, whe she broke down, his anger had faded. He felty guilty about the fact that he was responsible for how she now felt.

He knew how violent a panic attack could be and he hadn't wanted that. He waited, finally realizing that she was starting to calm down. He put his hand on her back again, despite her reaction earlier.

"Let's go, okay?", he suggested, now in a soothing tone. "I'm sorry."

With teary eyes, she stood up and avoided his gaze. She picked up her bag and walked to the front door of her apartment without saying a word. He stood up as well and followed her. She opened the door, letting him pass and he stepped outside. She locked up and together, they made their way to the car, each of them lost in their own thoughts.  
  


/

  
Fiora felt incredibly tired and drained after the panic attack. She hadn't spoken a word in the car. She had leaned her head against the car window and had closed her eyes. Her thoughts turned to what Jay had said about the photos. She didn't want to imagine what he had thought, when he had seen the pictures.

He parked his car in the parking garage and turned off the engine. As she was about to get out of the car, he put a hand on her arm.

"Wait," he said. "I want to apologize."

She looked at him. "You already have apologized."

"It wasn't fair to mention the photos. I'm really sorry. I had no idea what I would trigger..."

"You were hoping, that my fear would cause me to back down."

"Yes.", he admitted honestly, still looking at her. "But I said it, because I'm worried about you. I certainly didn't want you to break down."

"It's all right...", she was too tired to argue with him any further. She reached for the door handle and opened the door. He did the same and got out of the car at the same time.

"Sorry.", he repeated once more, leaning on the roof of the car to look at her. "And to answer your question... Yes, I would do the same. I accept your decision. But you should know that you can also cancel at any time."

She looked at him thoughtfully for a few seconds, before slamming the car door and starting to move. "Could you do me a favor?", she asked as she walked towards him.

"Sure. Anything you want..."

"I thank you for your apology,", she began, "and I thank you for worrying about me. But can we stop arguing now? Can we stop talking about any of this for the rest of the evening? Please? I need a break."

After a moment, he nodded in agreement and started moving to open the door that led from the garage into the apartment building.

Once inside the apartment, Fiora disappeared into the bathroom with her bag. Behind the closed door, she let herself slide to the floor and she remained sitting on the tiles for a moment. Her thoughts were still spinning about the incident in her apartment. She was afraid of herself, at how quickly she had lost control.

After a few minutes, she struggled to get back up. She felt completely drained and she felt like she was moving in slow motion. On the stool in the corner she found the clothes that Jay had given her the night before.

"Fi, are you okay?", he asked through the closed door at that moment.

"Yeah.", she just answered and turned on the shower.

She didn't know how long she had been standing under the hot stream of water, but eventually he knocked on the door.

"I'll be done in a minute.", she said before he´d even asked a question.

She took another deep breath and turned off the water. As quickly as possible, she dried herself off, got dressed again and finally stepped into the living room.

The same scene as the day before greeted her. Jay was sitting in front of the turned on TV. On the table were drinks for her. He looked at her, then he tilted his head, signalizing her to take the seat next to him.

"Come here, sit down." he said. "Are you alright?" She nodded and sat down on the couch. "You're not going to disappear right away again, are you?"

"No, I'm not leaving.", she replied curtly.

He cleared his throat and took a sip from his beer. "Okay... then I'd say we'll organize something to eat. From what I´ve heard you haven't had anything all day. Again."

She looked at him, frowning. "Are you spying on me?", she asked suspiciously.

He shook his head. "Platt keeps an eye on you, remember? And she's like an eagle mother, guarding her nest."

She rolled her eyes. "All right, all right..."

He nodded and pointed to the table. "I still don't know what you want to drink.", he said before turning to her. "And Fiora: I would be happy if we could manage to have a full conversation here."

She realized, that he was making an effort to obey her request not talk about anything that was going on out there. She, on the other hand, was still stuck in her thoughts and only now she realized, how unbearable she had to be right now.

"Sorry. You're right. I'll... I'll have the Coke.", she replied, reaching for the can.

"Do you want to watch the news?"

"Sounds good.", she opened the can and took a sip, while he changed the channel.

"So... Italian or Chinese, what'll it be?", he asked after a few minutes.

"Can we share a Pizza?", she asked without taking her eyes off the TV screen. She wasn't really hungry, but he wouldn't stop asking anyway.

"Good call. With pepperoni? What did we used to have? With extra chili?"

She thought about the past. Of the school weeks, when they had often met in the evenings. They had watched movies together and had played computer games. They had spent time together as friends, without a care in the world. Involuntarily, she had to smile at the memories, even if a melancholy mixed in with her emotions. She missed the time from back then...

She turned to him. "We had a big one with everything, plus extra Chili and double Mozzarella."

He nodded and smiled. "Yeah... those were the days. I always liked it, when we'd get together at Peter's to watch random crap and eat junk food."

"Me too. I was just thinking about that, too.", she glanced at the can in her hands. "Sometimes I wish I could turn back time."

"If we had known what was coming...", he began, then he looked at her again. "Hey, we should try to track down the others. Maybe we can all meet up sometime?"

"Yeah.", she nodded. "Sometime... Are you in touch with Will?", she then asked, trying to change the subject, because she didn't know if she was ready to see the old friends again.  
  
Jay rolled his eyes. "I have very little contact with my brother. We talk on the phone now and then. But he just moved back to Chicago, though."

"He's a doctor, right?"

Jay nodded. "Yeah..."

She noticed that he didn't like to talk about the subject and that there was obviously a tension between the brothers. So she decided to bring up something else.

"You've seen Allie recently?"

"A few months ago.", he replied, nodding. "Her brother's killer finally got, what he deserved."

One of the few people from the past Fiora still had contact with, was Allie Corson. A few years earlier, a young man had killed Allie's brother, Ben. Her friend had told her, that Jay had been one of the Police Officers, who had arrested the perpetrator. Unfortunately, the killer's father had made sure that the guy would never be convicted of the crime by giving a false testimony. Allie and her family suffered incredibly from the loss of the child and from the fact, that the guy lived not far from them. It had even gotten to the point, where Allie had to move away and Fiora had lost another close friend as a result. They had both always tried to support each other after their strokes of fate.

Fiora cleared her throat. "Allie told me about it. She was very relieved.", she informed him. "She´s relieved that the perpetrator is gone now. Forever."

"Yes. And so am I.", he took another sip from the bottle and his gaze hardened. "It drove me crazy that that son of a bitch was allowed to walk free. For seven years... And he would have done it again."

"But it's over now.", she said and they fell silent for a moment, before she continued. "Allie told me that you´ve asked her, if she was moving back to Chicago?"

He nodded, tugging at the sticker on the beer bottle. "She's not coming back, though. She's staying in Phoenix."

"I know... I'm sorry for you guys. You were a great couple."

"Yes. We were...", he said in a low voice. Then he set the bottle on the table and turned to her. "Hey, how come you never came to „Molly's" with us, when I asked you?"

"I didn't have time.", she lied.

"Come on, how many times have I asked you? Five, six times?" His hand moved a little closer to her and she involuntarily moved her leg out of the way. "I'm sorry.", he said. "I... didn't mean to..." Fiora looked at him. "Listen, I... like you.", he said carefully, while she was still trying to decipher the situation. "But just one word from you and I'll never make another attempt. I know it's probably the last thing you want to hear in your situation, but I... I just want to be there for you, you know?"

He looked at her, waiting for her response. She felt herself blush, as her heartbeat quickened. Was he serious? She had always thought, that he and Allie would eventually get back together.

She liked Jay, but she had never even remotely thought that he might have feelings for her. Meanwhile, he looked incredibly handsome. He was slim and well-toned, with classic features, dark auburn hair and green eyes. He could certainly have any woman that he wanted. Her office collegues, both already well over fifty, described him as every mother-in-law's dream...

But she... she herself was a wreck. She didn't even bother to look good for anyone. The way she dressed was absolute standard, her daily make-up was just a necessary routine. She herself had always considered her appearance unusual.

She was not particularly tall. From her parents - her father was of Irish descent, her mother was Jamaican - she had inherited thick, wavy hair that had an unusual shade of dark red. Her skin was covered in freckles. As a child, she had often been teased for her appearance and for her unusual Irish name. She stood out from the crowd, which she had always hated. So why, of all people, did he want to be with her?

"I'm too broken, Jay.", she whispered, looking at him while he still waited for a response.

"You're not,", he replied. "I don't know exactly what went on back then, but please believe me... I know what it's like to be to be lost in the past. Still, it's good to have someone by your side,", he was silent for a moment before continuing. "I've been pretty broken, too since I got back from Afghanistan. I haven't admitted this to many people... But I'm still struggling with PTSD."

She blinked, surprised by his sudden confession. Jay was also suffering from a post-traumatic stress syndrome? His frank words caused her to awaken from her spiral of thoughts.

"What?", she turned to him. "No one had told me that you were in Afghanistan."

He shrugged, suddenly looking like the somewhat insecure boy again, that she once knew from school.

"I don't talk about it much. What we experienced there... terrible things... There are good days, when I almost don't think about it, but there are bad days, too.", his gaze was lost for a moment and he looked sad. "On those days, it's hard for me to do my job."

She hadn't been aware, that Jay was also struggling with demons from his past. If she was honest, she didn't know much about his life after he had enlisted in the military, except through tellings. A wave of compassion suddenly flooded her.

"I didn't know that.", she admitted. "I'm really sorry. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No.", he gently smiled. "That's not what I meant... I don't want to talk about it any more, than you want to talk about the incidents with Woods." She looked at him sympathetically. Her heart was pounding and she didn't know what to say. He continued. "Yesterday, you asked me for help, that was a big step. And I see how hard this is for you. But... no matter what, I want to be there for you. I think we could be good for each other... You just have to let it happen."

"Jay...", she searched for another lie, but then she decided to just tell him the truth. "Ever since back then, I can't let anyone get near to me. It's a kind of... a protective mechanism."

He eyed her thoughtfully and she felt awful. He had been so open with her, and she felt like she was putting him off terribly.

"Does that mean, you haven't been with anyone since?", he asked softly.

It was hard for her to admit it. Then, she shook her head.

"Fi...", again, his hand wandered over to her and this time she allowed him to touch her.

She kept her gaze fixed on his hand, which was now on her arm. "I usually can´t endure, when someone touches me," she said, "I always avoid those situations."

"Yes, I've noticed that. But you can't spend your life alone, because -"

"You saw the photos... That's his... his doing...", she interrupted him and she felt the tears coming back. "He said, he was going to break me. The things he did and said. He made it happen. He made sure that I couldn't stand to be near someone." She ran her hand over her face, avoiding his gaze. "I'm sorry,", she then said. "Please understand me, I can't be with anyone."

In the corner of her eye, she saw him slightly shake his head. "I don't believe that. I think that you´ve deserved someone. And if it´s not me, then that´s fine. You will find someone else. But please, don't do this to yourself..."

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room for a moment. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, slid off the seat, stood up and was about to go to the bathroom, but he grabbed her hand and held it.

"Hey...", he said softly. She stopped. "Do you trust me?" She didn't respond, but yes, she trusted him. "Come here...", he gently pulled her back to him and she allowed it.

She settled back down next to him and without another word, he put his arm around her shoulders. She felt her body already reacting instinctively, felt how her muscles tensed, but then he put the second arm around her, pulling her into a tight hug and pressing her against his torso. Gently, he caressed her back with his thumb.

As she felt his body heat and smelled his scent, she suddenly felt something that she hadn't felt in many years. It was as if a feeling was awakening inside her, that had been buried somewhere a long time ago. Her body slowly relaxed and she realized, that something had changed. She wanted to feel... him.

All of a sudden it felt like she couldn't be close enough to him. She put her arms around him and returned the embrace. She was surprised, she hadn't expected to be able to feel like this anymore, after everything... It was almost, as if her body was absorbing every single second of this moment.

She didn't know for how long they had sat there like that, but eventually he let go of her and she looked at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She smiled cautiously. "I´m good."

Finally, a smile appeared on his face as well. "So, what do you think? Can you stand it, to be near me?", he grinned, but she could also tell, that in this moment, he was very insecure.

She took his hand. "Yes.", she lowered her gaze and looked at their entwined fingers. "It's... it's okay." Suddenly, she felt as if she was going to burn up inside. Jay had actually awakened something in her, that she had been suppressing all this time. She had built walls around herself. And he had managed that she had let him get through one of these walls.

"You look so pretty right now.", he said, while he brushed a strand of her hair out of her face.

She was surprised and she couldn't believe that he actually thought, she was pretty... Her body was marked by what had happened to her back then. Involuntarily, she let go of him and covered one of the larger scars on her arm with one hand. She pulled back from him a little and she wondered if he was aware of what she was hiding under her clothes.

"Fi?", he was irritated. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, but. You could pick any woman out there and I..."

"Woah.", he interrupted her immediately. "You completely misjudge me. Do you think I have affairs all the time? Fiora, I'm serious."

"No, of course not. What I mean is... You've seen the photos. My body is covered with scars. I'm not... pretty. And when you say something like that -"

"That's what you're worried about?", he straightened up a bit. "Fiora... You really have no idea, do you? In High School, I noticed you right away... On the first day, you came to class and I couldn't take my eyes off of you. I had never experienced anything like that before. You are beautiful.", he moved a little closer and looked her in the eyes.

"But, you and Allie...", she started.

"I was with Allie, because you were already with Peter. Actually, I was going to ask you if we'd go to the Prom together. But Peter beat me to it."

"I had no idea...", she whispered.

"And now,", he just kept talking, as if he had to get this off his chest. "seeing you again now..."

"But, I'm not the same person that I was back then. Do you understand?", she interrupted him.

"Of course not, I'm not the same person anymore either," he answered. "We've grown up. We've changed. We carry with us, what has happened to us so far. My body has scars, too. And I have problems, believe me. That's a part of us... But more importantly, you are a good person. You are helpful and kind. Everybody at work likes you. And I like you. I like you just the way you are now. Do you understand that there is no reason to doubt yourself?"

She was deeply moved by his words. "Never before has anyone said anything like that to me...", she muttered.

"I will always be absolutely honest with you.", he replied and then he put his hand on the back of her head. "I remember you, how you were back then... And I know, that this person is still inside you."

He waited to see what she would do. He didn't make the first move. He was absolutely gentle with her and Fiora suddenly felt, that she would burst with affection for him.

In the next moment she leaned forward and kissed him.  
  


/

  
Jay was surprised when she actually kissed him. After a split second of hesitation, he enjoyed the feeling of being close to her and he pulled her in. The kiss was incredible, his whole body seemed to respond to it and he got goosebumps. When they parted, she looked him in the eyes. Her eyes had always fascinated him. They were slightly cat-shaped and her iris was surrounded by a dark rim, that made the green and brown of her eyecolor shine especially brightly. He smiled slightly as he realized, that he was staring at her.

"I'm surprised...", he said, out of breath.

"So am I.", she smiled and lowered her head.

He noticed that she was very insecure about her actions. He decided to lighten the situation.

"What do you think, now we´ve earned us that Pizza, haven´t we?"

She laughed softly. "You're thinking about food. Now?"

"I think,", he began, "that this kiss... was just wonderful. And I'm thinking about food, because I want to stop myself from kissing you right back."

Without answering, she moved closer and their lips touched again...  
  


/

  
"How´s the Pizza?", he asked, grinning at her.

They sat at the kitchen table and shared a Pizza after all.

"Good.", she smiled and lowered her head. He barely averted his eyes from her, flirting so obviously, that she was ashamed. "Please, stop looking at me like that!", she said and she laughed when he played innocent.

He wiped his mouth with a napkin. "All right, then we'll have an agreement, okay? You tell me, when I go too far."

"No, I don't want you to have to pretend. Or act differently.", she answered.

He reached across the tabletop and took her hand. "Then, I guess, you'll have to put up with me liking to look at you,", he smiled triumphantly and looked deep into her eyes again.

She laughed. "Are you sure, that this isn't some kind of twisted „Stockholm Syndrome"?", she asked.

"Do you even know what a „Stockholm Syndrome" is?", he leaned back and took a sip of his Coke.

"Yes, of course! You know what I mean! Maybe, your protective instincts are fooling you. Or something like that."

"Did I just explain to you, that I've been thinking of you since High School? How many more soul confessions do you want to hear from me?", he asked jokingly.

She decided to go along with the game. She squinted one eye and pretended to think about it. "One more?"

„Mhm...", he hesitated for a moment and ran his tongue over his lips. "When we met again, you blew me off big time. And then I thought, you didn't like me anymore.", he raised his eyebrows, eager to hear her answer.

"Name one person, who doesn't like you!", she avoided a response and smiled.

"I know a whole bunch. At Stateville Prison, for example."

"I can imagine that...", she laughed softly and took a bite of her Pizza.

"I like this.", he suddenly said.

She blinked. "And what is this?"

"This... This is two old friends in scruffy clothes, who have finally discovered that they have feelings for each other."

She propped her chin on her hand and smiled. "I like this, too."  
  


/

  
When she woke up the next morning, Fiora immediately felt the tension return. It was as if the previous evening had been a dream. And now, reality was catching up with her again with a cruel speed.

They had spent the rest of the evening on the couch, an old movie on. At some point, Jay had fallen asleep. Fiora had put the blanket over him and had left him in the living room. She had gone into the bedroom, but before she had fallen asleep, he had come over as well. He had laid down next to her as if this was a normal thing to do. Only seconds later, he had drifted away, he fell asleep again, while she lay beside him in the semi-darkness with a pounding heart, studying his relaxed features.

"Ready?", he asked, after they had taken a final sip of coffee and were standing in the hallway, about to leave the apartment.

"Let's hope this finally ends today.", she replied.

He opened the door and they made their way to the underground parking garage. Once downstairs, they walked towards Jay's car. It was still early, there was no one else down here. She approached him one more time, before they reached the car.

"It's going to be okay,", she said, "I know, you're all paying attention."

His expression remained serious, but he clasped her waist and pulled her to him. She kissed him and could have stayed in that moment forever more.

A noise distracted her and they both pulled apart, startled. Fiora recognized a masked person stepping out from behind one of the parked cars. The shock drove so deep into her limbs, that she was paralyzed for a second. Jay drew his gun and she cried out in panic, as a whirring sound, followed by a long drawn out click, rang out.

Jay went down beside her, his body tensed and he gave an agonized groan, as he began to shake uncontrollably. Then he lay motionless on the ground. Fiora stared at him in horror, then she realized that the masked man had fired a taser. Its diodes had drilled into Jay's chest, finally knocking him out.

She looked up again and saw the man coming towards her. Instinctively, she wanted to run, but she would not leave Jay behind like that. She realized, that his gun was lying on the ground, just inches from his hand.

She dropped to her knees and reached for it, but at that moment the attacker was already at her. He grabbed her by the hair and her wrist. His grip was so tight, that she had to let go of the gun and she cried out in pain. The gun landed on the concrete floor and slithered out of reach.

With a jerk, he pulled her head back, finally forcing her onto her back. In the next moment, a blow hit her in the face. Dazed, she remained lying there, expecting another blow to follow, but the man had turned away and was now bending over Jay, who by now, was stirring again and trying to sit up. The shock of the taser must have worn off a bit.

Fiora turned onto her side. Her head throbbed and ached like crazy. She was dizzy, but she had to see if Jay managed to subdue the attacker. The man brutally kicked him, before he had even gotten up properly. Then, the masked man proceeded to punch him in the face over and over again, even after Jay had already passed out.

"Stop it!", she screamed in panic.

"Shut up!", he turned to her and without warning, he kicked her in the stomach.

Fiora cringed as the pain ran through her entire body. Her stomach clenched and she gasped for air. She coughed and she felt like throwing up. Then she was grabbed by the arm and dragged along. The masked man pulled her to a car. For a moment, he released her arm and opened the trunk. Fiora felt him grab her upper body and pull her up. She got to her feet and tried to brace herself against him. If he would manage to get her into the trunk...

"Chicago Police! Freeze!", a voice suddenly echoed through the parking garage.

She felt how the attacker put an arm around her neck and he pressed her against himself. All at once, she felt something at her throat and she realized that the guy must have pulled out a knife. He pressed the metal against her skin. She hardly dared to breathe and she tried to keep herself upright, although her stomach still contracted painfully.

"Away with the knife and raise your hands above your head!", the voice ordered and Fiora realized in the corner of her eye, that two policemen were approaching with their weapons drawn. "Now!"

The man pushed the blade to her skin a little more. Fiora could feel the knife penetrating her skin, a warm liquid wetting her neck. She stared at the policemen in horror. At that moment, a gunshot ripped through the air and the man suddenly let go of her. With a jerk, he was thrown backwards by the force of the bullet. She flinched. The knife fell clattering to the floor and she felt her legs give way at the same instant. In the next moment, she sank to her knees.

Immediately, one of the Policemen was with her and she felt him press a hand onto her neck. The second officer bent over the attacker and pulled him away a little, out of sight for her. She looked at the Officer who was with her. He said something to her, but she could hear nothing but the rush of her own blood in her ears. Then, her eyes wandered to Jay, who was still lying motionless beside his car.

"Go to him!", she told the Officer in a daze, finally coming back to her senses properly.

"Can you breathe? Press your hand on the wound!", the Officer shouted, looking at her urgently. "Press hard!"

She nodded, put her hand up, and the Officer guided her hand to where she should place it. Finally, the Officer walked over to Jay and felt his pulse.

The moment he touched him, he came to and Fiora's heart leapt with relief. She struggled to her feet and she managed to be with him with a few faltering steps. Beside him, she dropped back to her knees and she bent over him. Carefully, she put her free hand on his shoulder. He blinked and he was visibly in pain. His face showed several lacerations and bloodshot areas. It almost broke her heart to see him like this. Still dazed, he looked up at her, while the officer sent a message on his radio, requesting an ambulance and backup.  
  


/  
  
\- To be continued - 


	3. Chapter 3

/  
  
  
"I'll talk to the doctor and then you can go.", the nurse said to Fiora, after she had treated the wound on her neck.

"Thank you.", she answered and she watched her, as she stepped outside.

Jay appeared in the doorway, Fiora slid off the bed and walked towards him.

"How are you?", she asked, eyeing him anxiously. She hadn't seen him since the ambulance had dropped them off here. Butterfly bandages had been applied to the larger lacerations on his face.

"I'm fine.", he replied. "How are you?"

Carefully, he ran his fingertips over the band-aid that was covering the wound on her neck.

"The cut has been stitched, otherwise it´s just a few bruises.", she said.

"I can't believe that guy ambushed us."

"But it wasn't Woods,", Fiora said. "this man was much shorter."

Jay agreed with her, nodding. "Voight called me. The guy's gunshot wound has been treated and he's already been taken to the Police Station for questioning. They'll find out what that was all about."

"Can we also go down to the Station?", she asked.

"As soon as you're allowed out of here, we'll go.", he said, lowering his eyes. "If he had managed to get you in the car..."

"Luckily the officers were there.", she said, putting a hand on his arm to reassure him. "How could they have even noticed any of this?"

"Platt...", Jay answered. "She had overheard that I had taken you to my apartment. She called off a Patrol that was watching my apartment building. I didn't know anything about it myself."

"The Eagle Mother...", she repeated his previous words and he smiled briefly. "We probably owe her our lives."

He nodded in agreement, before pulling her into a hug. She carefully put her arms around him because she suspected that he must still be in severe pain from the stranger's kicks and punches. Only when the nurse returned to the room, they separated.  
  
/  
  


"Hey, how are you guys doing?", Alvin Olinsky asked as they stepped into the room, which was next to the interrogation cells. He eyed them sympathetically.

Jay patted him on the shoulder. "We're okay, Al. Thanks. What's new?"

Through the one-way mirror, they could see what was going on in the interrogation room. Seargent Voight and Adam Ruzek were there with the attacker. Fiora looked at the man with a mixture of fear and disgust. He looked perfectly average. Somewhat slight, blond hair, blue eyes. What could drive a person to do such a thing?

"His name is Walter Anderson.", Detective Olinsky reported. "He lives not far from here, must have scouted the Precinct. He probably saw the two of you leave the place yesterday. He must have followed you."

"But, why?" Fiora asked.

"Hank was quite rough with him. After a while, Anderson admitted to being a member of an Internetforum.", the older Detective looked at her hesitantly. "Nasty story."

"Al?", Jay stepped a little closer. "Are we talking about something on the Darknet here?"

He nodded. "A Forum where crazy people discuss the deeds of serial killers, admire them. Woods has quite a following there."

Fiora looked at the Detective. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Kevin already checked the Website.", Olinsky continued. "There's a recent entry there, from Woods to his followers... Whoever brings him Fiora, gets to be there with him when he finishes her. They can be a part of what he´s started."

Fiora felt her heart skip a beat. Before she could say anything, Jay literally freaked out next to her. "Can be a part of it?", he angrily hissed, before Fiora had even realized the words properly.  
  
He stormed out of the room, into the hallway and yanked open the door to the interrogation cell. She was startled by his sudden outburst and with wide eyes, she watched through the mirror what happened next. Within two steps, Jay was at Anderson's side and he grabbed him by the collar. He dragged him up from the chair and pushed him against the nearest wall. He pressed one arm against his neck.

"You sick bastard!", he grabbed Anderson's chin with one hand and squeezed. His fingers dug into his cheek, the prisoner squirmed and shut his eyes. A second later, Seargent Voight and Ruzek were with Jay. They grabbed his arms. Together, they pulled him away from Anderson and back into the hallway.

Fiora was shocked. She also stepped out of the room, followed by Detective Olinsky. Voight and Ruzek let go of Jay and placed themselves in front of him. Jay was still furious.

"What are you trying to do, Halstead?", Voight snapped at him. "You back off, now! One more action like that and you're out of the Unit!" Jay looked at him angrily, his gaze shifting repeatedly from Voight to the door of the interrogation cell. "Ruzek, Al, you take him and Fiora to my office. Now!", the Sergeant ordered angrily.

Fiora could see how hard it was for Jay, but he obeyed his Superior's order and he turned around. Ruzek tried to take his arm, but he yanked it away and started moving on his own. Fiora stayed back, frozen. She had never seen him like that before. Detective Olinsky put a hand on her back and gently pushed her forward.

"Come on, Dear.", he said. "He'll calm down in a minute... It's alright."

That meant, that his colleagues must have seen him like this before... Fiora approached the Seargent´s office with a mixture of fear and reluctance. She had no idea how to deal with Jay when he acted like this.

Once in the office, Jay had his back turned to everyone. However, when she entered the room, he turned his head. He still looked angry, but in the next moment he looked down at the floor in shame. He took in a deep breath. A moment later, he straightened up and turned to them.

"Sorry, guys.", he said as he pushed up the sleeves of his sweatshirt.

"I hear you, man. I would have liked to punch that scumbag, too.", Ruzek said.

Fiora crossed her arms in front of her. Jay walked over to her. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly, looking at him with concern.

He just nodded and squeezed her hand briefly, before leaning against the doorframe. Fiora thought about Detective Olinsky's words, that had originally caused Jay's outburst. About that Internetforum...

It scared her that there were people out there, who were helping Woods. People who probably knew all about her kidnapping, because Woods had boasted himself about it to them. These people took pleasure in her suffering...

"Fiora, I know this is bad," Olinsky said. He must had been watching her closely. "But now that we know about it, we can do something about it." He turned to Adam. "How many followers does Woods have there, in this Forum?"

Before Ruzek could answer, Seargent Voight stormed past them, into the room.

"Ruzek, Al, get out.", he said as he walked to his chair and sat down. "Halstead, Fiora. We're talking. Now."

The two Detectives left the room and closed the door behind them, while Jay and Fiora took seats in the two chairs in front of the desk.

"That was a really shitty move, Halstead!", Voight shouted angrily. "I'm tired of keeping you in check!"

Fiora winced and looked anxiously over at Jay.

"It won't happen again, Seargent.", he replied.

"We both know that´s Bullshit. You can´t control yourself. But you know the rules, so stick to them!"

Jay nodded curtly and lowered his gaze.

"I'm sure your act had to do with Al telling you about what we´ve heard from Anderson?", Voight continued, but then he took in a breath and lowered his voice a bit. "The raid this morning came as a surprise to all of us. Are you two okay?"

"Yes, Sir. We´re fine.", Fiora said, and Voight now looked at her.

"That guy in there, was ready to kill you along with Woods. We're going to find out who else is a member of this Forum. The Special Vicitms Unit is already on it. But that's going to take some time."

"What's your next step?", Fiora asked.

"First, Protective Custody for you. We'll keep on searching for Woods.", he said curtly.

"No. We can't do that.", she replied. "If he has more helpers now, you won't find him. He can hide with these followers anywhere!"

"What about Anderson? He must have had some contact with Woods, if he tried to kidnap her, right?", Jay asked.

"The contact so far has apparently only been through the Forum.", Voight said after a moment. "Since we have Anderson's access data and Woods doesn't know that we've arrested him, we'll obviously arrange a fake exchange. But you two won't be a part of it."

Fiora realized that the Seargent had initially not wanted to inform them about their plans. He had wanted to keep her and Jay away from the exchange.

"Sir?", Jay looked at him in wonder.

"I can't risk that you´re losing your cool again."

"I won't, Seargent.", he replied.

"Wait a minute," Fiora interrupted the two men. "You can't send someone else to make the exchange. Woods is very careful, Seargent. And he won't be fooled. Believe me, I tried everything back then... I tried everything.", for a brief moment her thoughts drifted off, but then she continued. "He won't show up, if I'm not there. He's going to want to see me. And I'm still willing to do that."

"Fiora, no.", Jay said. She reached over to him and put a hand on his arm.

Voight looked at them both thoughtfully and remained silent. "Okay, we'll do it." he then finally decided.

"If you're going to do this," Jay said. "then I have to be there, Searge. I have to!"   
  
His voice trembled. The older man eyed him with an indefinable expression. Jay looked over at Fiora, visibly nervous.

"All right, then.", Voight agreed at last. "But you absolutely follow my orders, do we understand each other?"

Jay nodded. "Yes, absolutely."

"Then let's talk about how this is going to work.", the Seargent said.

"We'll make contact, send someone with Fiora to the rendezvous point and as soon as Woods shows up, we'll arrest him.", Jay explained. "I'm going to do this with her."

"You can't do that, Halstead. Look at your face. And that idiot Anderson has a profile picture posted on the Forum. So Woods knows roughly what he looks like."

"She's not going out there with him!", Jay exclaimed.

"Of course not.", the Sergeant replied. "You've seen Anderson. Who does he look alike?"

Jay thought about it for a moment. "Sean Roman." He raised his eyebrows in amazement. "You want Roman to do this with her?"

"He's a good cop."

"He's not an Undercover Cop."

"He'll get it done. And we'll be there. We're going to catch this pig."  
  


/

  
Jay wasn't thrilled that Fiora still insisted on being there in person for the fake exchange. He didn´t like it, that Roman would be there with her and that he himself would be far away. Too far to be able to intervene immediately, if something would go wrong. But he was also aware of the fact that he would have to follow Voight's instructions to the letter from now on. He had passed a line and he knew Voight would stick to his word, if he made another mistake.

"Halstead, I'd like to talk to you alone.", the Sergeant said.

Fiora rose and left the room with a worried look on her face. Jay glanced after her, then he turned back to Voight.

„You lied to me.", Voight said straight out. "You said you weren't having a relationship with her."

"It's... I didn't lie to you. It happened last night, Sir.", he replied. „We only talked so far."

He was feeling uncomfortable admitting his feelings in front of the Sergeant, who was nodding while he considered Jay´s words.

"Be careful and follow my orders from now on. I´m damn serious. Let Roman do his job."

He nodded. "Absolutely, Searge. I won't let you down."

"I trust on your word.", Voight said and Jay rose.

He went to the door and stepped outside, where he first took in a deep breath, relieved to have escaped from Voights interrogation.  
  
/  
  


Shortly after, everyone in the office gathered around Kevin Atwater's desk. He had the Internetforum on his screen and was logged in with Anderson's account data. Shortly before, they had posted a message that was intended for Woods. Now they waited for him to respond.

"What else did you find?", Antonio Dawson asked.

"The older conversations have already been deleted. The members of the Special Unit are trying to restore them.", Kevin replied.

Ruzek held a sheet in his hand. "This is what Anderson wrote recently...", he read from the sheet. "When I catch that bitch, I'll bring her to you wrapped. Just the way you like it..."

All eyes moved to Fiora and Ruzek, visibly ashamed, closed his eyes. He obviously hadn't thought about what he had just said out loud.

That moment took Fiora's breath away and she felt herself getting sick. She put her hand over her mouth and ran. She ran into the break room and bent over the sink. The next moment she was retching, but her stomach was completely empty. Erin was with her after a few seconds.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry...", Fiora panted, as soon as she could breathe again. She wiped her mouth with her hand. "I wouldn't have made it to the Restrooms."

"Hey, it's okay,", Erin said sympathetically. "I'm sorry. Ruzek is an idiot."

Jay joined them and Fiora quickly turned on the faucet. She rinsed out the basin and let some water flow into her palm. Then she drank a few sips to settle her stomach. She carefully straightened up and Erin supported her a bit. Fiora nodded at her gratefully.

"I'm fine, thank you.", her gaze wandered past the two of them, back into the office room.

Everyone was still staring at her. Then Jay approached her and Erin. He was visibly concerned and he nodded briefly at Erin. She left the room, then he closed the door and came closer.

"This is too much...", he said. "It's too intense."

She propped her hands on her hips and looked at him desperately. "I have to do it, Jay. Ohterwise, it'll never stop. Eventually he'll come for me. And we´ll never know if it´s himself or someone else, if we don't get him. I can't live like this.", all at once the tears overwhelmed her and she sobbed.

Immediately, Jay was with her and pulled her into a hug. She clung to him and for a moment, they seemed to support each other. Then he let go of her, pulling her to the couch and out of sight of the others. They sat down and she took in a deep breath, as she wiped away the tears.

"Whatever that guy has written, whatever he meant, that's out of the question.", he said. "It´s not going to happen."

She lowered her head. "It's... it's humiliating that they know. It brought back the memory all at once and..."

"Can you tell me?", he asked softly.

She hesitated. Other than to her Therapist, she hadn't talked to anyone about the exact details. By her request, the Psychologist with whom she had first spoken at the time, had arranged that that part of the files had been sealed and was only available upon request because of medical confidentiality. Apparently, the Officers had not requested this information yet.

But she was sure that if the Special Unit could recover the deleted messages on the Internetforum, Woods would have revealed it all anyway... She knew that she could no longer hide from that part of her past anymore. She took in another deep breath before she began to speak.

"My Therapist explained it to me, she tried to make me understand about Wood´s motives. She said, he wanted to gain absolute control and power over me. He wanted to be dominant. He tried to humiliate me and break my will... But before that, he made sure that I was completely at his mercy. Physically."

Jay merely looked at her with a vague expression. Then he wordlessly reached for her hand. She closed her eyes. She didn't know if she would be able to tell him the whole truth. But did she have a choice? If they wanted to make the exchange look real, then she had to reveal everything about her kidnapping to him. She lowered her head and touched her neck, where she felt the band-aid that reminded her of the assault that had happened that morning. She knew she had to overcome herself, so something like that wouldn't happen again. Not to her, but also not to anyone else.

"Woods loved to tie me up. It´s an ancient Japanese art, he said that over and over again. It was horrible...", she finally reported in a trembling voice. "Depending on what he wanted to do, he would tie me up. I felt like an... an animal.", her voice faded and she breathed faster, as she got lost in the memory.

Jay pulled her close again and she hid her face in the crook of his neck.

"No way.", he whispered in her ear. "There's no way we're doing that..." She leaned back a bit and looked at him. He now had tears in his eyes as well. "God, I'm so angry.", he said. "I wish they'd let me see Anderson. I'd kill him."

She was also struggling to hold back the tears and she placed both hands on the back of his neck. "They'll get what they deserve.", Fiora then said. He just nodded. "Do we have to tell the others?" she then asked.

"No. I'll go and talk to Voight. I´ll tell him that, whatever Anderson had planned, is not an option. Voight is not going to ask about the details."

Fiora felt reliefed and she nodded. "And this Officer Roman?", she asked.

"Voight is right. He's a good cop. He knows, what he's doing."

"And you? Where will you be?"

"I guess Voight wants me to aim with the Long gun at Woods. Even though I'd like to be closer..."

"You mean, you're a sniper?" she asked in surprise.

"Military training.", he answered.

"You're going to keep an eye on Woods."

"I will pull the trigger, as soon as he makes one wrong move."

She leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss.

"I trust you," she said, "I am lucky to have someone like you in my life." She didn't know when she would get the chance to talk to him in private again, so she had decided to be absolutely honest.

He kept silent and just looked at her. Then he kissed her, more forceful this time. His tongue searched its way into her mouth and she surrendered to the sensation that he was causing inside her. For that one short moment, all her fears were pushed back and she felt only him. His closeness, his touch.

When he broke away from her she realized, that she never wanted to lose him...  
  


/

  
Jay sat at his desk and thought about Fiora's words after she had been called to Seargent Voight's office. He was beginning to get a vague idea of what Woods had actually done to her. It made him sick.

"Guys!", Kevin suddenly shouted and Jay looked up. "Special Vicitims has finally recovered some of the chat history!"

They all rose and gathered around Kevin's screen. Jay scanned over the first three posts and then he turned away in disgust. The way these guys talked about Fiora and the other two victims, about women in general, made his bile rise. He didn't know if he could read the rest of the messages.

"Woah, wait a minute, the IP addresses... look at this.", Antonio said. "Isn't that Parker's address? Here you can see the location from where the members logged in."

Jay walked over to him and looked at the screen again. Next to the Forum, Kevin had opened another window, displaying an e-mail from the Special Victims Unit, listing the IP-Addresses with the home address of the members of the forum. The login had been a little while ago, but Antonio was right.

"It's his address.", he confirmed. "So Parker and Anderson are both members of the same Forum. Woods has also created an Account since he escaped. We need to find out, where these two are currently posting from!"

"They've already sent people out to track down the Users.", Kevin said.

"They're not going to use a private access.", Erin pointed out. "They're using Internet Cafes or they are logging in onto open networks with disposable Cellphones."

"Then we won't be able to track them that way either.", Adam said. "They've sure as hell been careful since Woods has escaped."

Frustrated, Jay turned away. So it all was still leading to that damn exchange...  
  


/

  
"Fiora, this is Patrol Officer Sean Roman.", Seargent Voight said.

A somewhat uncertain looking young man in uniform stepped into Voight's office. He actually looked a lot like Anderson. Fiora had seen him several times downstairs, at the reception desk. He had only recently been transferred to the 21st Precinct. He had been assigned to partner up with Kim Burgess, a young Patrol Officer. Fiora knew Kim and she really liked her. She´d hoped, that the two of them got along well.

He stepped up to her and extended his hand. "Miss Hillsen, I'm very sorry for what you must be going through right now.", he said as he looked at her sympathetically.

"Thank you.", she replied, smiling weakly, while they shook hands. "Please, call me Fiora."

He nodded. "I'm Sean. I'll do everything I can to make sure that nothing happens to you."

"So, you've already been informed of everything?", Voight asked.

The Officer nodded. "Yes, Sir. I'm ready."

"Good, as soon as we get a response from Woods, we'll start making arrangements."

Sean turned back to Fiora. "I want you to know, no matter how this goes down, I'm not going to hurt you."

She nodded as she felt her heartbeat quicken again. She looked out through the glass window, where Jay sat at his desk. She shivered at the thought of what she and the Officer would soon have to do. She knew that Jay would be there, that he would be watching over her. But he wouldn't really be there with her...

"Do we know yet, how Woods envisions the Handover?", Sean asked at that moment and his words returned Fioras attention back to the conversation.

"We don't have an answer yet. But we'll come up with something to make it look real." Voight said. Fiora looked at him with concern. "It´s going to be fake, don´t worry." he then added.  
  
/  
  


Fiora stepped out of Voight's office shortly after.

"Are you okay?", Jay asked, and she nodded. "Can you work with Roman?"

"Of course."

Jay could see that she was nervous. Still, he had to tell her about the things, that they had recently discovered.

"We've gained access to the deleted chat histories.", he informed her.

She looked at him with worry. "Is it bad?"

"I haven't read much... But yes.", he admitted frankly. "I couldn't continue reading."

She ran her hand over her forehead and closed her eyes for a moment. "I don't know what to think right now... Should I have a look at this? Or not?"

"Hey.", he took her in his arms. "No. You and I, we're not going to read this. The others have got this covered, okay?"

She nodded cautiously and he let go of her again. Of course, they could have kept these informations from her, but that wouldn't have been fair. He walked back to his desk and she followed him.  
  


/

  
"Guys!", Kevin suddenly exclaimed. "Woods has answered!"

Everyone walked over to his desk to take a look at the screen. Only Fiora stayed back, waiting with a pounding heart to hear what the others would say.

"He has agreed.", Antonio said as he raised his head and looked at her. "Tomorrow morning. 6 o'clock."

All at once, the fear crept up in her again. She gave Jay a quick look, then she turned and walked into the hallway. She wanted to go to the Restrooms, just to be alone for a few minutes. Of course, Jay ran after her.

"Fi?"

"It's okay,", she said, turning to face him. "I just need a few minutes. A few minutes alone... Sorry."

"It's all right.", he said and stopped. "Take your time."

She turned around. Within a few steps she had reached the Restrooms. She went into one of the cubicles and locked it. She lowered herself to the floor and hugged her knees with her arms. She had known what was coming. But now that it was certain, it was taking more out of her than she had been willing to admit to herself.

So, the next morning she would see Woods. At six o'clock, she would have to face her nightmare again...

Everything that had happened in the last few days suddenly seemed so unreal to her. She thought of Jay. How could it be possible that her life had turned by 180 degrees so quickly? Suddenly, someone had come into her life who cared for her... He reacted incredibly emotional to everything that concerned her. What would happen, if something went wrong tomorrow? She didn't want him to worry or possibly blame himself if something would happen to her... She took in a deep breath, trying to calm her heartbeat and to get rid of the tightness in her chest, while the worry about him grew inside her.

"Fiora?", she suddenly heard Erin's voice.

She was startled, but then she pushed herself up, ignoring the pain from Anderson's attack. She got back to her feet and unlocked the door. Quickly, she stepped outside. Erin looked at her, but she remained silent.

"Do you want me to come back with you?", Fiora asked her.

The young Detective shook her head. "I just wanted to see if there was anything I could do for you?"

"Don't worry, I won't back down.", she replied.

"No one here thinks that.", she returned. "But we're all worried about you. Are you really going to get through this?"

Fiora looked at her for a second, then she nodded. She and Erin had always gotten along well when they met and she was glad that she had come in, instead of Jay.

"I'm worried about Jay.", she hesitantly said now, unsure whether to open up to her. Then she decided to tell her. "If something should happen to me, then you have to take care of him. All of you. Please make sure that -"

Erin put a hand on her arm. "Nothing is going to happen. Everything will be fine and then Woods will be back in prison."

"I certainly hope so.", she said. "But if something does go wrong, please tell him that I'm incredibly grateful for everything. Can you do that for me, please?"

The young woman nodded and finally pulled her into a brief hug. "Everything will be fine. There will be no need for this." Then she followed Erin back outside.  
  
/  
  


"We'll go over it again.", Seargent Voight stood in front of a memo board, to which they had attached some city maps.

Fiora sat in Jay's chair, while he´d taken a seat on the edge of his desk.

"I'm driving with Fiora to the meeting point at „Arrigo Park" around 5.45.", Sean Roman began. "We´re going to the fountain at the Columbus Memorial."

"Halstead and Al, you two are on a rooftop on Loomis Street? Here.", Voight pointed at a map. "The rest of us are nearby with their cars. Erin and Antonio, you take a walk in the park, not too far away. As soon as Woods shows up, we'll make our move."

"We'll put some trackers in Roman's car, just in case." Ruzek said.

"Okay, go over there and sort it out.", Seargent Voight ordered. "We'll all meet back here at four o'clock tonight. We need to be on site early enough, so he doesn't suspect anything."

The Detectives began to gather their things to head home. Jay stood up and came over to Fiora. He leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"We're going to stay here tonight. Come and meet me in the first interrogation cell in a few minutes."

She frowned and watched, as he moved away.

"See you later." Erin said then. "Try to get a few minutes of sleep."

"Yeah... You too.", Fiora nodded at her.

After a few minutes the room had emptied and only Seargent Voight remained in his office. Fiora stood up, walked to the open door and knocked on the door frame. He looked up.

"Sir, I wanted to thank you.", she said.

"For what?", he returned.

"That you haven´t excluded Jay from the operation."

"I'm not thrilled about the way Halstead is handling this whole thing.", he answered „That´s why I wanted to talk to you. When this operation is over, when we´ve put these bastards where they belong and when Woods is back in his cell, I want to see you back down there in your office, okay? I need Halstead with a clear mind in this job."

Surprised, she looked at him. "Yes, of course. Sir, I..."

"Look, Fiora... I don't mind you two being a couple. You are both adults. All I'm asking is, that you two keep your personal lives separated from work, okay? Now go, try to distract yourself and to get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

"Yes, thank you Seargent.", she turned around. With an uneasy feeling she made her way to the interrogation cells, just as Jay had said earlier.

As she passed the adjoining room and looked through the mirror, she could see what he was doing in there. He had literally looted the snack machine, had organized Potato chips, candy bars, two sandwiches and drinks for them. Involuntarily, she had to smile and she watched him for another moment, before she walked over to him.

"So... this is supposed to be my last meal?", she asked as she stepped inside.

He looked at her with wide eyes. "You're not serious!", he exclaimed.

"Yeah... Stupid joke, I know.", she tilted her head and walked towards him. "No... it's great. Really great... Where did you get all this from?"

"Vending machine downstairs and vending machine in the basement. Both have their specialties...", he replied.

"I can see that... Sandwiches and Cheetos. Perfect."

"Have a seat.", he pointed at one of the chairs. "Welcome to the most romantic restaurant in all of Chicago."

Although she had felt bad just moments before, she had to laugh and she accepted his invitation. She took a seat and he sat down across from her. He eyed her and leaned back.

"How are you feeling?"

"When you're there, fine.", she answered honestly. "Otherwise... I'm nervous."

"Understandable... Hopefully by this time tomorrow night, this will be over."

She nodded and wished, that it would already be over. "Have you ever had to do anything like this?", she asked, "An Exchange?"

"Not that, but I was once in a very similar situation to yours."

She straightened up and leaned on the table. "Excuse me?", she asked.

"Yes... the whole thing didn't end up in the files. So please don't say a word about it to anyone."

"Jay, what has happened? Were you hurt?"

"No.", he shrugged. "Some guy had offered a bounty to anyone, who would kill me. I shot his brother during an arrest."

"A... bounty?", she'd gotten her hands on quite a few reports during the months since she'd been working here, but she´d never read anything like this.

"Chicago can be tough... To be able to track down the killer who had had accepted the job to kill me, we also arranged a fake exchange. It went well. We caught him."

She knew that he wasn't telling her the whole story.

"My God, I know so little about your work,", she said, "it scares me."

"Hey,", he reached across the table and took her hand. "these are exceptions. I can take care of myself, don't worry. And besides, Voight is watching over all of us."

"Yes, he does.", she said, but she decided not to tell him about her conversation with the Seargent. Instead, she looked him firmly in the eye. "I want you to know, that you can talk to me when things like this happen. If something happens at work or if something is bothering you, you can tell me."

He withdrew his hand, lowered his gaze and took a sip of the drink that was placed in front of him. Only then did he look at her again. "Okay... Thanks."

"Jay?"

"I don't know if I can talk about it.", all at once there was a vulnerability in his gaze. "I always work these things out by myself."

Fiora realized that she had apparently reached one of his boundaries. She rose from the chair, walked around the table and crouched down beside him. He turned his head and looked down at her.

"You decide about what you want to tell me,", she said softly. "I just wanted you to know that I'm here. I'm not going to push you. I think we're pretty much alike concerning these things...", she smiled and he nodded briefly. She rose and caressed his back. "Okay, now we´ve definitely deserved us some Cheetos, haven't we?"

She passed behind his chair and he watched as she sat back down. For a few seconds they were silent and he avoided her gaze. Fiora began to hope that she hadn't gotten too close to him. She really knew nothing about this side of Jay.

"Have you ever put Cheetos on a sandwich?", he then asked and he began to open his bag of Cheetos.

Fiora looked up in relief. "No, have you?"

"Sure. Go ahead, try it!", he urged her.  
  


/

  
"Voight finally left.", Jay said as he stood in the doorway. "Shall we head over to the couch?"

She followed him across the office, towards the break room. Now there were only a few hours lying ahead of them until the exchange would take place. He sat down and tapped on his leg. "Come on, you can lie down."

She sat down next to him and shook her head. She leaned against his shoulder. She certainly wouldn't sleep tonight. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer.

"I know, the waiting sucks.", he muttered when he rested his chin on her hair. "But it'll pass..."

She closed her eyes for a few seconds. She felt exhausted, but Jay certainly didn't feel any different...  
  
/  
  


Jay held Fiora when he noticed that her breathing slowly relaxed. He finally realized that she must have fallen asleep. He smiled and carefully leaned back a little. He was tired, but there were too many thoughts running through his mind. He was going to try to stay awake through the night, there wasn't much time left before it all started anyway.

He thought about that things that his colleagues had reported to him. They had gotten more details about the three kidnappings from the forum. Everything they had told him had made him so incredibly angry, that he would prefer to shoot Woods as soon as he appeared on scene at tomorrow's handover. But that wasn't an option, of course. He was glad that Al would be on the roof with him. The older Detective always had a calming effect on him, he seemed to understand what he was going through.

Jay took deep a breath and closed his eyes for a moment as well.  
  
  
/  
  


"Jay? Fiora?", they both woke up, when they heard the voice.

In the next moment Fiora realized, that it was Erin who was standing in front of them.

"It's half past three... I just arrived.", she said softly. "You have to get up." Fiora blinked and straightened up. They both had fallen asleep, despite everything.   
  
"We're awake," Jay said.   
  
"Okay, go freshen up yourself. The others will show up here soon.", Erin said and Fiora got up from the couch. "Are you ready?", she asked her then.   
  
She just looked at her. "Not really."   
  
"It'll be over soon.", Erin replied and then she turned to Jay. "Come on, get up, Halstead!"   
  
He also got up from the couch and they walked towards the Restrooms. "One can hardly notice that Voight raised her, don´t you think?", Jay muttered along the way. Then he stopped in front of the door that led to the Men's room. He turned to her. "We will watch over you today. Everything will be fine."   
  
"Thank you.", she smiled briefly, turned around and went into the Ladies' room.   
  
Once inside, she took a deep breath and tried to calm her inner restlessness. After completing the most urent human needs, she went to the sink and looked in the mirror. The bruise from the blow that Anderson had given her on the day before had changed color and her jaw area was now purple and blue. She shivered when she realized, that in a worst case scenario, she would have had to spend the night with this monster. She freshened up and then she went back outside, where Jay was already waiting for her.   
  
/

  
"Put this on.", Erin handed her a blue turtleneck sweater that she'd probably organized at the lost and found department. "This will cover the cut on your neck. We don't want Woods to get suspicious right away."

"Okay, good.", Fiora took off her top to put the sweater on.

They were in the Officers' locker room and Erin had offered to help her. As Fiora poked her head through the neck opening of the sweater, she briefly caught Erin's startled look, before the young Detective turned away.

She had seen the scars. Fiora herself had never been able to get used to the sight and she could only imagine how the it must affect others.

Erin cleared her throat and turned back to her. "Put the necklace on. There's a transmitter hidden in the pendant. We can use it pinpoint your location. Put it under your sweater." She did as she was told. "Open your ponytail. Mess up your hair a bit. Your belt. Give it to me."

Fiora removed her hair tie and Erin took it. She ran her hands through her hair, then she undid the belt buckle and handed the belt to her. She then waited to see, if Erin had any further instructions.

"Good.", she said. "Do you have anything else in your pockets?"

Fiora reached into her jeans and handed her her cell phone. "That's it..." she said and Erin nodded.

"That's it.", the Detecitve repeated. "Now let's go out there and arrest that Monster, okay?"

Erin put Fiora's things into a small bag and left the room. Fiora hesitated for a moment, before she followed her. She went into the office, where everyone was already waiting for her. Sean, now dressed in civilian clothes, seemed quite different from when he was wearing a uniform.

"Okay, let's go downstairs.", Voight said, and they started moving.

In the hall at the back of the building, a car was waiting. The Officers went into a smaller room to get the weapons and ammunition they needed. Sean stayed behind with Fiora.

"Are you ready?", he asked, looking at her with worry.

"Yes, of course...", she answered quietly.

"Like I said yesterday, I won't hurt you. Just play along, even if I have to get a little rough."

"It sounds so easy.", she smiled weakly.

"I really feel terrible about my role, please believe me. I deeply loathe guys like Anderson and Woods.", he quickly added, before the rest of the team came back into the hall.

"Okay. Everybody knows where to go and what to do... Roman, you're going to take a little detour, drive by Anderson's home address, so we can be at the park before you and so you're coming from the right direction.", Seargent Voight summarized again.

Jay, now dressed in black and wearing a bulletproof vest like the others, stepped up to her. In his hand he held a pair of handcuffs. Surprised, she looked at him.

"Don't worry. They've been altered. If something should happen, give one firm tug to them. They'll open and you'll be free.", he explained, looking deep into her eyes. "Don't take any risks. Erin and Antonio are nearby, Roman has a gun with him. Al and I will be watching you the whole time..."

She merely nodded and took the handcuffs. She hesitated to put them on, but Anderson would also have used something to keep her under control... With a bad feeling in her stomach, she fastened them in front of her body.

Jay walked her over to the waiting car. He opened the passenger door and she took a seat. Sean got in as well and he waited until the others had also gone to their cars, before he started the engine and drove off.

Fiora looked up at the dawning morning sky, as they drove out of the hall. In her mind, she spoke a quick prayer, asking God to protect them all and to give them the strength to get through all of this...  
  


/  
  
\- To be continued - 

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

/  
  
"We´re here.", Sean said. "I'll park the car, walk around the vehicle and you stay seated, okay?"

"Yes.", was all that Fiora answered. Her heart was racing and she felt nauseous. There was no turning back now.

"All will be fine.", he said, as he pulled the steering wheel to the right to park the car.

As soon as he had stopped the engine, he yanked open the driver's door, walked around the car and opened the passenger door. He grabbed her arm and pulled her outside. She stumbled against him and he grabbed her upper arm. He led her a few steps in front of him. Then he stopped and looked around. Fiora, too, eyed the surroundings anxiously. She wondered, if Woods was already there, if he was already watching them. Sean walked beside her, putting one arm around her shoulders now and holding her arm with the other hand, as they continued walking. They approached a square with a fountain.

"Come on!", Sean urged her. She knew it was all for the show, but she felt awful. He suddenly pulled her to the left and again, she stumbled. "Stop here!"

They had reached the fountain now and he stopped. He placed himself behind her, burying one hand in the back of her sweater to hold her in place. "Don't make a sound, you know what happens, if you try something.", he threatened her while he looked around.

Fiora could not control her trembling by now and her gaze roamed over the surrounding trees. A little further away, she could make out two people walking along a path. These were probably Erin and Antonio. For Fiora's taste, the two were a little too far away.

Suddenly, a man stepped out of the twilight. Fiora turned her head in his direction. She felt as if she would faint any moment. Sean however, held her tightly in his grip. But then she realized that the man, that walked towards them, was not Woods...  
  


/

  
Jay looked through the viewfinder of his gun and detected a movement among the trees. In the next moment he had located a man. He aimed at his head. Then he recognized the man and he hardly believed, who had shown up for the meeting. He pressed the button on his radio.

"Searge, this is Marc Campell, the driver of the van that caused the accident that led to Wood's escape.", he informed the others. "He's obviously involved in this as well."

"Roger that.", Voight answered. "Stay on hold. We're waiting to see if Woods shows up as well. You're cleared to fire, as soon as things get dicey. But the guy's got to stay interrogatable, you understand?"

„Roger that.", Jay replied and he refocused on what was happening.

"There's another person between the trees...", Al said now. He was also looking through the viewfinder of his Long gun.

"You keep an eye on that one, I´ve got Campell.", Jay said.  
  


/

  
"Anderson?", the stranger called out, stopping a little further away.

"Where's Woods?", Sean asked. "I was supposed to meet him here, not you."

Woods' photos had been all over the media after his arrest back at the time. So Anderson would know what he looked like.

"Little change of plans,", the other one said. "He sent me to pick up the bitch."

"That's not what we agreed on.", Sean countered. "I'm only going to deliver her to Woods personally."

"He said he's grateful. He'll send you an exclusive video, as soon as we´ve finished her.", the man replied.

"No.", Sean replied. "Tell him that he shall stick to his promise and let me be a part of it! Otherwise, I'll keep having my own fun with her!"

The man looked at him coldly, then his eyes wandered to Fiora. She felt that she could no longer breathe. She knew that kind of look in his eyes all too well... it resembled the look that Woods had given her many times back then.

"She's his. I thought that was clear. Give her to me.", the stranger now said, suddenly pulling out a gun. Fiora flinched, but Sean remained absolutely calm and continued to hold her. The stranger aimed at his head. "That wasn't a request."

"Our deal was different.", Sean tried again.

"That was not a request...", the man repeated threateningly as he now cocked the hammer of the gun.

Everything in Fiora tensed and she feared that at any moment, the guy would pull the trigger. She looked around fearfully and she realized that Erin and Antonio were already approaching the stranger from behind, with their guns drawn.

At that moment, she heard a whirring sound and a pop. The stranger doubled over and the gun fell from his hand. As he slumped, Sean yanked Fiora backwards, bringing her behind him, to safety.

Then he grabbed his own gun and rushed to the man, who by now lay groaning on the ground. With a shove with his foot, Sean kicked the wounded man's weapon out of reach, bent over him, placed a knee on his chest and held his own pistol in front of his face.

"Chicago Police!", he yelled. "Don't move."

Fiora just stood there, open-mouthed, staring in shock at the man, who was bleeding from wounds on the upper arm and his hip. He was still conscious.

Within the next instant, Erin and Antonio were with them and Voight was approaching as well. Erin rushed to Fiora, put an arm around her and led her a few steps away.

Voight and Antonio rushed to Sean's side to support him. They handcuffed the stranger, though he cried out in pain.

"It's over.", Erin said to her, as she moved her a little further away. Then she removed the handcuffs from her. "You did it."

She looked around. Where was Jay? He wasn't with the others. "Where is he?", she asked and Erin knew immediately who she meant.

"He's tracking another person with Al. They suspect it's Woods.", she told her. "Someone was hiding a little farther away and ran off. They could see it from the roof. Ruzek is off too, they'll get him. You did very well..."

"No... It was all for nothing...", she said, as tears welled up in her eyes. "Woods will escape again!"

"No. They'll catch him.", Erin replied, nodding at her assuringly. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and looked over her shoulder. Voight, Sean and Antonio hoisted the injured man up and dragged him to one of the cars.

"Don't they call an ambulance?", she asked.

"He's going in the cage for questioning first. He doesn't appear to be badly hurt. Once he's talked, he'll get medical attention.", Erin explained. "Come on, let's go sit in my car."

Fiora followed her on wobbly legs, while a thousand thoughts flashed through her mind. She was completely exhausted and she couldn't even realize yet, that for the moment it was actually over. Erin led her to the passenger seat and she got in.

"We can listen to the others over the radio, so we´ll know when they catch Woods.", Erin continued. "I'm going to drive you to the Station first. You can get some rest there. Okay?"

Fiora just nodded and buckled her seatbelt with shaking hands. Erin started the car and they drove off. After they left the street at the Arrigo Park, she turned onto South Loomis Street. As they passed Arthington Street, Fiora noticed a car in the corner of her eye. She turned her head and she realized, that the vehicle was speeding towards them at an incredible speed...

"Erin!", she screamed, but then the car already crashed against the driver's side.

Fiora was was slammed against the window and all went black...  
  
/  
  
Jay ran after the second person, who had left the scene. It was a man, dressed in black. He was white and about six feet tall. He was wearing a cap and Jay had not yet been able to make out, if it was Woods. The fugitive just turned around a corner and Jay followed him. Gun ahead, he first glanced around the side of the building, before he continued the pursuit down in the narrow alley.

Al had fallen behind, but Jay could still hear him and he knew the older man would catch up. The stranger had now reached the end of the alley and turned left, onto a larger street. Jay followed, making sure the man kept running, before he too made his way onto the unprotected area. He saw the fugitive run towards an old, condemned building. Then he kicked in the boarded-up door to the house. Then he disappeared inside.

Jay ducked and hid behind some parked cars, as he continued to approach the building. He currently presented a good target for the fugitive, in case he tried to shoot at him from inside the building. He reached for the radio.

"5021 George, I am in pursuit of a fugitive on West Cullerton Street. Male, white, about six feet tall. I'm entering building 1748, where the person has gained entry."

"Copy, 5021 George.", Dispatch confirmed.

"I'll be right there,", he now heard Al's voice over the radio. "Ruzek is right behind us."

Jay watched the entrance for a moment longer, then decided to continue approaching the building. Stooping, he walked along the fence and then took the three steps, that led up to the old porch. He noticed that Al was catching up to him and he was relieved to have backup again. Through hand signals, he indicated to Al that he was going in and that the latter should cover him. Then, he slipped through the hole that the stranger had kicked in the door.

With his gun raised, he entered the hallway of the vacant building. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. All the windows had been boarded up and only little daylight enlighted the surroundings.

Al was now inside as well and he put a hand on his shoulder, as they worked their way forward together, searching the rooms for the stranger. If the guy was hiding somewhere in here, they would find him.

They had already made it a good distance into the house, when Jay noticed some movement further up, by the stairs. The guy was trying to escape to the upper floor.

"Police, freeze!", he shouted and took off running.

After a few steps he realized, that something was wrong... the floor seemed to move under him... He looked down and realized, that he had come to a stop on a piece of thin plywood.

Al closed in on him and Jay looked at him, startled. He wanted to warn him, but the floor already gave way and they both fell...

The fall didn't last long, but Jay's feet came down hard and he crashed onto his left arm. Immediately, a sharp pain shot through his entire side and he cried out in pain. Al landed next to him and also groaned in pain.

Jay tried to catch his breath and tried to stand up. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself up with his right hand so that he got into a sitting position. Shaking, he looked up and pointed the gun towards the hole, that now gaped above them. But the attacker seemed to be gone.

"Al, are you okay?", he groaned and he leaned towards his colleague.

"My leg...", Al pressed out in pain. "Son of a bitch! I think it's broken!"

"Anything else?", he asked through gritted teeth.

"Just the damn leg, I think..."

"Hey, you guys okay?", Ruzek appeared above them at the hole and looked down at them.  
  
"Al needs an ambulance!", Jay shouted. "Get down!"

Adam disappeared from his view and Jay heard him call for the ambulance over the radio.

He slowly realized, that he must had dislocated his shoulder.  
  
"Al, help is on the way.", he told his colleague, while he tried to breathe through the waves of pain.

Then Ruzek appeared at the end of the room.

"Shit...", the younger one said in shock, while he walked towards Al, where he crouched down beside him.

"Adam... I need your help, please.", Jay said. Ruzek came up to him and looked at him with concern. "I´ve got a dislocated shoulder. But I can't go to the hospital right now, I can't. Do you understand?"

"Halstead...", Al began.

"No! I'm begging you both,", he interrupted him. "don't tell Voight that I got hurt."

"Jay, man...", Ruzek also tried hesitantly.

Jay knew he was asking for a lot. Regulations said, that if he was injured, he couldn't continue to participate in the operation until he was taken care of. But he needed to know what Campell was going to say and how Fiora was doing. And he wouldn't be able to rest, until they´d finally caught Woods.

"Help me with the shoulder and I'll throw in some painkillers. I've done this before. Please, man... help me.", he looked up at Adam. "Do it now, before the ambulance arrives..."

The younger man was still hesitating, but then he agreed. "Okay, what do I have to do?", he asked.

"I'm going to lie on my back and you're going to take my wrist. You're going to pull at my arm until the joint pops back in.", Jay explained.

"Jay, this is going to hurt like hell. Don´t do it.", Al shook his head.

"Adam?", Jay's mind was set and he clenched his teeth, while he lay down flat. Ruzek leaned down and clasped his arm. That touch alone sent a sharp pain through Jays arm and he closed his eyes, as he took in a deep breath. "Pull tight...", he said. "Now!"

With a jerk, Adam pulled his arm up and put his own weight into the pull. The pain rolled over Jay like an avalanche. He cried out, but then he felt the joint snap back into place.

Ruzek let go and Jay immediately pulled his arm in front of his torso, where he clutched it with his other hand. He rolled to his side and tried to catch his breath.

"Jay, say something! Did it work?", Ruzek asked with worry. "The ambulance has just arrived..."

"Worked.", Jay answered curtly with suppressed pain in his voice. "Help me up." Ruzek walked towards him and Jay extended his uninjured hand to him. Adam pulled him to his feet. "Go to Al...", Jay then said.

As the paramedics entered the room, Jay took a step back and leaned against the wall. He was shaking, nauseous with pain and felt dizzy. But this would pass. He would ask the paramedics for some Ibuprofen, as soon they had taken care of Al...  
  
/  
  


"You know that I'm a Detective with the Chicago Police Department!", was the first thing that Fiora heard, when she came to.

She realized, that Erin was talking to someone. Fiora had a terrible headache and her whole body hurt. She tried to sit up, but then she realized that something was holding her back. She was lying on her side and her hands were tied behind her body. Her legs were also tied. Another rope was attached from her legs to the hands, so she couldn´t move. Immediately, adrenaline shot through her veins and she was wide awake within a second.

"Sweetheart, I don't give a shit what you are, if you're an Officer or a Detective. I have nothing to lose."

Fiora would recognize that voice among thousands... It belonged to Woods. She tried to move so she could see him, but everything was spinning. It took a moment, but then she scanned the room and finally realized, that Erin was sitting not far from her. She was leaning against a wall and Woods was standing right in front of her.

They were in a darkened, empty room. Probably a basement. The left side of Erin's face was covered in blood, apparently she had a severe laceration to her head. Woods had his back turned to Fiora and probably he hadn't noticed yet, that she was awake. Erin, on the other hand, looked at her briefly, but then she focused back on Woods to hold his attention.

"You can still decide how this ends.", she said. "Whether you´ll spend the rest of your life in solitary confinement or if you still get to see the sun every now and then."

Woods laughed out humorlessly. "So, you think I'm going back to jail? I'll tell you something... I'm not going back. I'd rather die. And before that, I'll take some of you with me. So don't get your hopes up too high."

A large blade flashed in the semi-darkness and Woods bent down to Erin. She turned her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut as he approached her face with the tip of the knife.

Fiora couldn't let him hurt Erin. It was her fault, that the Detective was trapped with her in this situation...

"Hey!", she shouted desperately at that moment, trying to stop Woods from his action.

He wheeled around and she looked at him, frightened. She tried to withstand his piercing gaze, while the fear inside her rose.  
  
/  
  


"How's Al?", Antonio asked, as Jay and Ruzek returned to the Police Station.

"He's on the way to the hospital. Broken leg, but otherwise he seems to be fine.", Adam explained.

"And you guys are good?", he continued to ask.

"Everything's fine.", Jay lied.

His arm and shoulder still hurt, but the painkillers were working by now and were at least dulling the pain a bit. The paramedic had given him two Ibuprofen, when he had asked for them. He´d said he had a headache. He kept his hand hidden in his jacket to have at least some support for the arm.

"Has Campell talked yet?", Ruzek asked.

"He's also one of the members at the Forum. Parker and he´d planned to free Woods during the transfer. He's had a clean record so far, so he had to come in for the Exchange, in case we´d show up there. Woods has paid him for doing it."

"Has he given up the location of Woods and Parker yet?", Jay asked.

"Voight and Atwater are working on it."

"Hey, where are Erin and Fiora?", Jay turned around and walked back into the office. "Are they in the Locker room?"

"They haven't shown up yet.", Antonio replied, frowning. "Maybe Erin went to the hospital with her?"

"Then she would´ve let us know.", he answered. "Adam, would you go downstairs and-"

"No need for that, Halstead.", he heard Trudy Platt's voice behind him and he turned around. The Sergeant looked anxiously at the three men. "I´ve just got a call. Erin's car has been involved in an accident. Two cars crashed into each other not far from Arrigo Park. The car was empty when the emergency personnel arrived. Tech has no idea of their whereabouts. Erin's cell phone is dead and Miss Hillsen's transmitter seems to be broken as well."

Jay felt like someone had punched him and his gaze went blank as he realized, that something had gone seriously wrong.

"That was a damn diversion!", he shouted angrily. "The second guy. The house. Woods took them!"

Antonio immediately went to the interrogation cells to inform Voight. Now they needed Campell to reveal Woods' whereabouts as fast as possible. Ruzek followed Antonio.

Jay stared at Seargent Platt.

"I´m sorry, Halstead,", the older woman said. "I'll go downstairs and ask around. Maybe a Patrol saw anything suspicious."

"Thanks.", he said absentmindedly.

He ran his hand over his face, then he went to his desk. He had more Ibuprofen in his drawer. He took the small box and with trembling fingers, he squeezed out another pill from the blister. Then, he slammed the drawer closed. He was so frustrated and angry! How could they have been so stupid? Fiora and Erin could be dead by now.

He went to the break room and turned on the tap. He quickly swallowed the third pill and then he also went to the interrogation cells, where he joined Antonio and Adam.

He would have loved to burst into the room to threaten the guy. But he couldn't piss Voight off any more. He had to keep a low profile.

The three of them stood behind the one-way mirror and waited, while Voight now changed his interrogation tactics and got violent towards Campbell...  
  
/  
  
  


Fiora tried not to flinch when Woods turned around to face her.

"Lil´bird!", he smiled and walked over to her. "I thought you´d wait until I´m finished with your friend, before you´d join us." He clasped her neck and tugged her into an upright position. "Did I allow you to speak?"

He began to choke her and Fiora tried to hold still. She knew it would only get worse, when she would rebel against him. The pressure that he put on the neckwound hurt and she feared that it would begin to bleed. But then, Woods released her and she gasped for air. He must had noticed the necklace and now, his fingers searched for the pendant that was hidden under her sweater.

She began to hope that the transmitter was still working. She had completely forgotten about the necklace. Her gaze shot to Erin, who seemed to be thinking the same thing. Woods took his knife and janked at the collar of the Turtleneck sweater. Then he began to cut the fabrik and teared open the sweater, revealing her bra. He took the pendant and held it in his fingers.

"What´s this?", he asked and looked at her.

"From my... my boyfried.", she lied.

Woods laughed. "Your boyfriend? I thought that I had ruined you for other men? But you... you are nothing but a dirty little bitch! Have you already done it with him?", he slapped her in the face. „You whore!"

Fiora winced and closed her eyes. She started to shake, while her cheek burned like fire. He janked the necklace from her neck and threw it in a corner. Then he reached for the band-aid and removed it.

"Did Anderson do this?", he asked. He pressed the tip of the blade against the stitches and she flinched. The touch terribly hurt.

"Woods!", Erin shouted, probably because she wanted to stop his actions. "Why don´t we talk about Anderson, mhm? I´ve been questioning him at the Station."

He straightened up and went to her. Without a word, he also slapped her in the face and she moaned. „You only speak, when you´re spoken to!"

Then he retured to Fiora. Satisfied, he let his gaze wander over her now exposed body. Then he put the blade to one of the old scars. He used a big Hunting knife. She tried to hold still and tried not to make a sound.

"I bet, you still remember the rules, don´t you?", he asked. „But this time, the stakes are a bit higher... If you don´t obey, I am going to hurt her, okay?", with the knife, he pointed at Erin. „You´ve been a very, very bad little bird... talking to the Police, trying to deceive me. What do you think? What should be your punishment for all that you´ve done?"

He ran the blunt side of the knife down her upper body, until he´d reached her belly. She knew that he would soon move on to cut her, but then he positioned the blade in front of her face. She closed her eyes and turned her head, but he grabbed her hair and janked her head back.

"Stop it, you pervert Bastard!", Erin shouted, despite of his earlier threats.

Angry, Woods turned around. He grabbed the young woman and dragged her to the center of the room, where Fiora was lying. She now realized, that Erin was tied up in the same way as she. The young Detective moaned when Woods moved her. Fiora suspected that Erin had been severely hurt due to the accident. The car had crashed into them on Erin's side of the car. Woods now pressed the blade against her neck.

"What did I just say?", he yelled at her and grabbed her hair. Erin froze. „Do I have to teach you some manners first?"

Tears welled up in Fioras eyes. She feared that Woods would kill Erin, if she wouldn´t obey him.

At this moment, she heard a sound from above and she looked up. Could that be the members of the Intelligence? Had they found them?

Woods let go of Erin, got up and went to the door at the end of the room. Then he opened it.

"It´s about time you got here.", he said to someone that Erin and she couldn't see yet. "You have to take care of the bitch."

Fiora's hope faded, tears now streaming down her face. They weren´t saved... it was someone Woods had expected.

A tall, muscular man stepped in. She recognized him from one of the photos on the bulletin board in the Precinct. It was Sean Parker, the guard who had helped Woods to escape. She glanced back at Erin, who also seemed to recognize him.

"Did you lose the cops?", Woods asked.

"They almost chased me halfway across town.", the guy replied, moving closer. He looked down at Erin and Fiora. "I see you still got to her. Very good... But why did you take that one?", he bumped his foot against Erin's shoulder and she groaned.

"Why not? The more sluts the better, right? They were both unconscious. I didn't think that that one was going to make it much longer anyway,", Woods pointed at Erin. "But she's tough."

"Twice the fun.", Parker returned with satisfaction and a smile. "Our plan worked. I got the damn cops into the house. I think they're busy for now. One of them probably broke every bone in his body. At least it sounded like it."

"They arrested Campell.", Woods then said. "But I´ve paid that son of a bitch enough money. He knew what he was getting into. But now we need to hurry, thanks to that bitch!", he kicked Fiora's thigh with the tip of his shoe and she groaned, as a dull pain spread.

"Forget Campell. He'll be out of debt, when he gets out of jail. Let's go on, I don't want to wait any longer," Parker said.

Fiora gave Erin an anxious look. Now they weren't dealing with just one perpetrator, but with two. And what had happened out there? What if the team of the Intelligence couldn't find them, because Woods and Parker had set some kind of trap for them?

"Yeah... We've waited long enough...", Woods now said. "You take the cop. Let her watch and learn. She's up next. We'll do her first."

Woods bent down and grabbed the rope, that was attached to Fioras legs and arms. Parker janked Erin away from her. Woods cut through the rope and then he also freed her legs. He put a hand in her hair and janked her head back. Then he came closer and gave her a kiss. He smelled like cigarettes and alkohol und Fiora thought she would retch, when he pushed his tongue in her mouth. But before that happened, he let go of her and pushed her backwards, so she landed back on the floor, her hands still tied. Within the next instant, he crouched over her and breathed heavily. He began to tugg at her Jeans.

Fiora could hear Erins muffled screams in the background. She knew what would follow, she knew it was pointless to fight back. Woods would win. He would always win. She shut her eyes and she wished she was far away. But instead, she found herself in a spiral of horror. She kept her eyes closed tightly and reality mixed with the trauma from her past...

At first, she hardly noticed the uproar, that suddenly erupted around them. A deafeningly loud bang was heard from above and it brought Fiora back to reality. Woods let go of her and straightened up. He gave the other guy an alarmed look. Fiora gasped for air. Her heart was racing so fast, that the blood was rushing in her ears. The sounds came through to her only muffled, but she was sure that she heard footsteps from above. She hoped that help was coming...

"The cops! Campell sold us! That dirty rat!", Parker shouted.

"Kill her!", Woods ordered, pointing at Erin.

"No!", Fiora shouted in panic.

"Don't worry, you're about to get your turn, too!", Woods said.

She could see Parker dragging Erin to her feet, before Woods got back to her and punched her in the face. Fiora's head was thrown to the side. She blacked out for a moment and felt herself drifting away, but in the next moment she realized, that he dragged her up. He placed himself behind her, while burying a hand in her hair. Fiora felt incredibly dizzy and her head throbbed.

"You won't survive this!", he whispered in her ear. "Not this time."

Then the door was pushed open and several people rushed in. Fiora recognized the members of the Intelligence, as well as the Officers Burgess and Roman. Her gaze lingered on Jay, who, however, had his full concentration on Woods. He was aiming the barrel of his pistol at Woods' head.

"Drop your weapons and release the hostages!", Seargent Voights deep voice commanded.

Fiora didn't know where Woods had placed the knife until that very moment. But then she felt him press the blade against the side of her chest.

"Put the knife down! Now!", Jay now shouted and for a second, their gaze met.

The next moment, Woods thrust the blade in brutally. Fiora's body tensed at the moment when the blade entered her side. It felt, as if the steel was sliding between her ribs. Her breath caught and pain flared up abruptly. For an endless second she feared, that Woods would pull the knife back out and stab her again, but it didn't come to that... She heard several gunshots and then she felt Woods' grip loosen.

She looked down at herself and saw the knife stuck between her ribs. She gasped for air. Then she fell. She landed on her back. The pain was so intense, that she could barely breathe. She groaned and blinked. At that moment, Jay was with her. He got down on his knees next to her and then he put a hand on her forehead with a panicked look on his face.

"Fiora... calm down. It's over, can you hear me? Just lie still.", then he looked up. "I need some help here!" Kim Burgess appeared in Fiora's field of vision. "Help me turn her to her side, I need to cut the rope.", he instructed the young Officer. "Gently."

They lifted her slightly. The pain in Fiora's side exploded and she cried out. Then, she could feel the ropes loosening. As they lowered her onto her back, Jay and Burgess pulled her arms out from under her body. She immediately felt like she could breathe better and she tried to breathe deeper. But all that was possible, however, were a few short, choppy breaths, before she began to cough.

"Jay,", Burgess said anxiously. "the blood..."

"I know.", he returned tensely.

"What, what´s wrong?", Fiora tried to speak, but then she coughed again.

"Don't speak.", Jay said now. "Keep breathing and try to stay awake. Help is on the way." His voice trembled.

"Three minutes until the ambulance will be here,", she now heard Seargent Voight's voice in the background.

"Jay?", she tried again.

He only took her hand and squeezed it tightly. At that moment, Fiora felt herself beginning to drift into unconsciousness. She tried to fight it, but her field of vision became increasingly darker and only seconds later, there was nothing anymore...  
  
/  
  


„Fiora!", Jay pressed his fingers on the crook of her neck, searching for a pulse. "Stay awake!" He realized that she had passed out. He jerked his head up and looked around. "Where's the damn ambulance?"

"In a minute!", Kevin shouted.

He looked over at Erin. She was sitting upright and was surrounded by Voight, Ruzek and Roman.

Sean Parker had also pulled out a knife when they had burst into the room. He had threatened Erin with it. With doing so, he had sealed his fate.

"Is Erin okay?", he asked anxiously.

"She'll be fine.", Ruzek reassured to him.

Relieved, Jay nodded at them and he focused back on Fiora again. He looked at her bloodied face. He wished he could do more... But he was doomed to wait.

"Her lung collapsed.", Burgess said. "And there's too much blood!"

"That's because he hit something else.", he replied. "An artery. Or the heart... I've seen injuries like that before.", he felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he fought them down.

If Woods had hit her heart, she had nearly no chance of survival. He took in a deep breath. He couldn't lose his head right now.

Finally, he heard the sirens of the ambulance and he stood up. With unsteady steps, he rushed to the door and to the dark hallway, that led upstairs. He took the stairs and ran towards the paramedics.

"This way! Quick!", he shouted.

His heart raced, as he ran back downstairs. When he re-entered the room, the others looked at him in concern, but he ignored their stares and settled back down next to Fiora. She was so pale... Then, finally, the paramedics were there. He rose and took a step back, so they could do their work. He stared at his hand, which was red with Fiora's blood. Lost in his thoughts, he wiped the hand on his jeans.

Only now did his eyes wander to Woods, who lay a little farther away. Several bullets had gifted him a quick end. More than he´d deserved...

Two paramedics were now with Erin as well. Their gaze met briefly. She looked, like she´d been through hell. He didn't want to imagine what they had both went through.

He himself suddenly felt dizzy and he leaned against the wall. His arm and his shoulder suddenly throbbed painfully with each heartbeat and he cursed himself, for not taking more painkillers with him from the office.

"Jay, are you alright?", Burgess asked. She had stayed with him and Fiora the whole time.

"Yeah.", he just answered, avoiding her gaze. "I'm fine."

He watched as the paramedics wrapped the knife in Fiora's side with gauze bandages, making her ready for transport. They had put an oxygen mask on her face and now started an IV. Then they slid a spineboard under her body and lifted her up, to bring her upstairs.

Jay walked over to Erin and the others. "I'm going to the hospital with her, Searge.", he said, and Voight nodded at him. "Erin, are you alright?", he then asked his partner.

"Go with her.", she said. "I'll be fine. I´ll see you later."

Then, he hurried upstairs and took a seat in the back of the ambulance.  
  
/  
  


Arriving at Chicago Med, Jay followed Fiora and the paramedics to the Emergency room. They pushed the stretcher through the entrance doors. Immediately, a doctor and nurse came over. The paramedic summarized Fioras condition and Jay continued to run after them.

"Traumatic unilateral Pneumothorax from stab wound. Right side, between the 5th and 6th costal arches. Dyspnea, Tachycardia, probable Tracheobronchial tree injury. She was unresponsive on scene, we gave her Oxygen by mask and an IV of Saline solution."

"Trauma Room 2!", the Doctor said and he took over the gurney.

Jay continued to walk along, until a nurse stopped him and stood in his way.

"Sir, I need you to wait here," she said.

"I'm a Detective with the 21st Precinct, I need to stay with her." he said. "She's... she's my girlfriend.", he then added. Again, he felt tears welling up and he looked at the young woman.

"You have to stay here, Sir, I'm sorry.", the nurse replied. "Take a seat over there and fill out the forms. We'll let you know as soon as possible what´s going on and if there's anything new."

He glanced past her and took one last look at Fiora, before the curtains of the treatment room were closed. The nurse also left.

With his heart pounding, he remained back alone. He stared at the closed curtains. From inside, he could hear the medical staff working, but it all blurred with the surrounding sounds now. What if he had just seen her alive for the last time?

He blinked and ran a hand over his eyes. Then he took in another deep breath and looked around. Behind him, he spotted the sitting area at the entrance. Normally, he just rushed past it. He walked over and settled down in one of the chairs. Several other people were waiting here, but he ignored them. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

He could no longer think clearly. Added to his worry, he felt an excruciating pain in his arm since he´d left the basement and had followed the paramedics to the amulance. Carefully, he placed his arm on the armrest. All at once he felt completely drained and powerless.

"Detective Halstead?", someone addressed him and he opened his eyes.

"Dr. Choi.", he said in surprise as he recognized the Doctor, who must have spotted him and who came over to him.

"What are you here for? Does your brother know you're here?", he asked.

"Um, no.", he replied. "I just got here. My girlfriend is in Trauma room 2... Stab wound."

"Oh, okay. I'll check if your brother is free right now, then he can have a look at her. I myself have a Patient right now. Are you okay?", he looked at him with concern.

Jay nodded. Dr. Choi frowned, but then he moved on. Jay propped his head in his healthy hand and closed his eyes again. He started to sweat, as the pain grew more excruciating. Why the heck hadn't he taken more painkillers? He felt like an idiot.

"Jay?", Will's voice startled him and he winced whe he raised his head. His brother took a seat next to him and looked at him with concern. "You look miserable, what's wrong?", he asked.

"Will, I'm here with Fiora Hillsen. She was kidnapped and the Kidnapper stabbed her in the chest.", he began and he tried not to lose his composure in front of his brother and the strangers, that were now staring at him. "One of her lungs collapsed, she was coughing up blood. I don't know if she's going to make it. I wasn't allowed to stay with her."

He looked into Will's eyes, who continued to analyze him. Jay hid his face by lowering his head, while he ran a hand over his sweaty forehead.

"Okay, listen,", Will said. "I'm going to take a look at Trauma room 2, but I´m sure that she is in good hands, okay? And when I come back, you´re going to tell me what's wrong with you. Deal?"

He just nodded. Will rose and approached the Examination room. Agitated and nervous, Jay stayed behind, waiting for him to return. Two minutes later, Will reappeared. Jay rose from the chair and winced, as the movement sent another sharp pain through his arm and shoulder. He stared in Will´s face and tried to read anything in his expression, but his brother had put on that long-trained, sympathetic expression that Doctors had. It was impossible to figure out what he was going to tell him.

"Will?", he asked.

"She's stable.", his brother answered in a low voice. "She's about to go into Surgery. They're doing a Thoracotomy, an artery was injured and that's caused some internal bleeding. They're trying to stop the bleeding and they will place a Pleural drain to treat the Pneumothorax. She has a very good chance, I think she´ll be alright."

Jay breathed a sigh of relief and he closed his eyes for a moment.  
  
"Now come with me.", Will said and he followed him inside to the Doctor´s room, where they could speak in private. They stopped in front of a few chairs. Will put a hand on his chest and gently pushed him backwards. "Tell me.", he urged him. "Sit back down."

He obeyed his brothers instruction and settled back in the chair. It took him a moment, but then he began to tell his brother what had happened.

"... When we were chasing the Suspect, we ran into an old house. The ground gave way, we fell and I dislocated my shoulder.", he concluded the Report.

Will frowned. "Excuse me?"

"I had to keep going... I had to stay on the case. And then we realized, that Fiora and Erin had been kidnapped. We popped the shoulder back in. I took some painkillers. But they don't help anymore..."

"Jay, that was beyond stupid, do you know that? Who knows, what was injured by your action. Ligaments, nerves! You should have seen a doctor right away!"

"I don't care.", he simply replied. "I had no choice."

"You're going to Radiology with me right now!", Will said firmly.

"I'm going to wait here until...", he began.

"You're coming with me or I'm going to drag you.", Will raised from the chair and looked at him angrily. "Your friend in there, she's in good hands. She's going to be taken to Surgery any minute. It'll probably take two or three hours, before she´s brought back down. So we have plenty of time, to take care of you. Come on!"

Jay looked at him wearily. "Will the Doctors keep you posted?", he asked.

"I can arrange that.", his brother said, while he offered him a hand. "Let's go!"

Jay hesitated for a moment, but then he gave in. He grabbed Will's hand and let him pull him out of the chair.  
  
/  
  



	5. Chapter 5

/  
  
When Fiora regained consciousness, she first recognized the familiar sounds and smells of a hospital. She fought against the tiredness that still prevailed and it took her a moment to open her eyes. She felt an oxygen mask on her face and reached up. Then she spotted a huge IV cannula in the palm of her hand and she stopped her movement. She followed the tube to the two bags, that were attached to a metal stand beside her bed. Whatever they gave her, at least she wasn't in pain... She put her hand down and carefully turned her head. Then she saw, that Jay was sitting next to the bed. He had rested his arm and his head on the mattress, where he must have fallen asleep. She was infinitely glad and grateful to see him.

Now, the memories of what had happened came back. All at once, it all was back and she shuddered. Woods had said to her, that she would not survive this time... So she was more than grateful that she was here and that she had woken up. She remembered the knife, Jay's panicked looks and the moments, before she had passed out.

Cautiously, she bent her head down a bit to see what had happened to the injury. She spotted a tube leading out of the side of her chest. The sight startled her and her heartbeat increased, triggering a silent alarm on the monitor next to her bed. She glanced towards the door, as a nurse entered just moments later.

"Miss Hillsen. You're awake?", she asked, approaching the bed.

Startled, Jay woke up from his sleep. Their gaze met briefly and Fiora smiled cautiously at him, before she had to focus on the nurse again. The young woman pulled the oxygen mask from her face.

"How are you feeling?", she asked. The nurse exchanged the mask for a thin oxygen tube, which she placed in her nose.

"I´m fine.", Fiora answered. She noticed, that she was hoarse.

"Are you in pain?"

"No. But what's that... that tube in my... my chest?", she asked. She noticed that she had some difficulty with speaking.

"You had a stab wound and had to have Surgery. Your lung was injured.", the nurse began to explain. "The doctors put in a tube to drain the fluid. It will be removed in three to four days. It won't hurt, I promise. The doctor will explain the rest to you later."

"Thank you.", Fiora didn't feel quite able to take in all the information at that moment.

"You´re welcome.", the nurse glanced briefly at the screen next to the bed. "Blood pressure is good. I'll send the Doctor to you in a minute, okay?"

The nurse smiled encouragingly at Jay and Fiora watched, as she left the room. Then their gaze met again and she noticed, that he was watching her intently.

"Hey.", he said, smiling at her with visible concern. "Are you sure you're not in pain?"

Now, after he had straightened up, she saw that he wore a sling for his arm. Without answering his question, she glared at him. "What is that? Are you all right?", she asked.

"You're asking me how I'm doing?", he returned, shaking his head. "Come on. How are you?"

"I'm fine...", she said, blinking against the fatigue. "The painkillers are good."

He smiled briefly and caressed her shoulder. "I think you're still a little affected by the anesthetics. But I'm so glad you're awake..."

For a moment, she closed her eyes again. She felt exhausted, but she desperately wanted to stay awake and talk to Jay about all that had happened.

"You saved Erin and me.", she said, looking at him again.

"I'm sorry we didn't realize Woods' plan sooner. So many things went wrong. I'm so sorry -"

"Jay, you were there, just in time.", she interrupted him.

"Not soon enough. He was just about to...", he stopped and skipped the rest of the sentence.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. Tell me, how is Erin? Is she badly hurt?"

"She's doing quite well.", Jay replied. "She has two broken ribs, a concussion, some cuts and bruises. Fortunately, though, no internal injuries."

"Thank God.", Fiora was incredibly relieved. She wouldn´t have been able to forgive herself, if anything worse had happened to Erin because of her. "And now tell me, what has happened?"

"Woods and his men played us... It all went wrong, the guys that he had sent for the Exchange were just a Decoy, so he could get to you. He was there, waiting for his chance.", he swallowed and bowed his head.

"But you arrived in time," she repeated. "You're not to blame, Jay. Woods is the one who did this to us. Is he...?", she recalled the gunshots.

"Dead, yeah.", Jay finished the sentence. "Multiple bullets... He was killed instantly. The other man, Parker, also."

Fiora felt the relief spread through her. She didn't wish death to anyone, but knowing that Woods could never come after her again, was like a massive weight that was lifted from her.

"So the three of them worked together?", she asked after a moment. "This other man, Parker, told Woods, that one of you was hurt."

"Al was injured pretty bad." he said. "He broke his leg, has some bruises. I was lucky, Only hurt my arm and shoulder."

Fiona looked at him with concern. "Are you going to be okay?"

He nodded. "Hairline fracture in the wrist and a few bruises, it´s nothing."

"Oh Jay... how?"

He shook his head, as if none of this was actually worth mentioning.

"The guy who came to make the Exchange was the driver of the van, Campbell. He had helped Woods to escape from prison. We didn't realize that until then. Woods probably suspected all along, that the Exchange would involve the police. He had anticipated, that we would arrest him as soon as he showed himself. So, he sent Campell."

Fiora tried to sort the new information. So she had been right that Woods had anticipated their moves and that he had planned ahead. She hadn't expected anything else from him, but no one could have guessed, that it would all turn out this way.

"And then?", she continued to ask.

"The second man who ran away, was just there to make us follow him, to separate us. Al and I went after him. Then he ran into an old building. Me and Al went after him, down the hall... all at once the floor gave way beneath us and we fell. The guy had us trapped and he ran. Ruzek arrived at the house shortly after us and he called for help. We were full of adrenaline and we didn't realize, that the whole thing was staged. No one suspected that Woods had apparently been waiting nearby in a car the whole time. He had been watching everything and had taken the chance, when you and Erin drove off alone. By the time we realized that you hadn't arrived at the Precinct it was already too late."

"How did you find us? Was it the transmitter in the necklace?", Fiora asked.

He shook his head. "It wasn't working anymore, probably from the accident or maybe it was blocked by something... We only found you, because Campell eventually gave in and because he talked. He gave us the address where he should have taken you, if the Exchanged would´ve worked. I'm so sorry that we didn't get there sooner..."

"Jay. Please, stop it now...", she saidy. "Erin and I, we´re alive and we´ll get better." He looked at her and she could tell, that he was obviously still struggling. "It's all right.", she whispered, "You didn't do anything wrong."

He touched her fingertips and she clasped his hand. Reassuringly, she stroked the back of his hand with her thumb.

Then a Doctor entered the room and they were jolted out of the moment. Jay got up from the chair to get out of the way and the Doctor asked him to leave the room, so he could examine Fiora and talk to her.

She watched him, as he left the room and she realized, that it would take them both a while to process the latest events.  
  


/

  
After twelve days, Fiora was finally released from the hospital. Fortunately, she was already feeling much better physically, although she was supposed to take it easy for at least another three weeks. She had had a checkup appointment with the Doctor that morning. Afterwards, Jay had driven her to her apartment, because she wanted to pack up some things. She would be staying with him for a few more days. The Special Victims Unit had located the remaining members of the Forum. Those involved had either been cautioned or charged. They were under close surveillance and apparently the news of Wood's death, had put an abrupt end to it all. Only the administrator of the Forum, a man named Alexander Cayden, had gone into hiding. He probably knew that he was facing several years in prison. Fiora hoped that she would never hear about the matter again. She was trying to finally deal with the past. She just wanted to be informed as soon as they´d caught the guy, then she would return to her apartment. She had decided to use the remaining time while she was on sick leave, to search for a new place to live. She wanted to feel safe again and that seemed to be the best way.

Jay was back at work for the first day. He had been visiting her at the hospital every day, as he too had been on sick leave due to his injuries. He could have stayed home longer, but he was eager to get back to work. He wanted to support the team. Right now he was on desk duty, since he had to wear the sling on his arm for another while.

They had talked a lot about what had happened these days and had grown even closer as a result. She had realized by now that she could trust him completely and she had opened up to him even more. She had told him more things from her past. He had also revealed some of his experiences to her in return. She now knew that they could support each other and be there for each other. She could absolutely imagine a longer relationship with him.

She was just about to make herself some tea, after packing the essentials, when the doorbell rang. She looked through the peephole and saw Jay standing in front of the door. Quickly she opened it. He smiled, when he saw her.

"Hey, I thought I wasn't going to see you until tonight?", she asked while she returned his smile.

"The Searge sent me home.", he said.

"Why?"

"Not much to work on, we have no new case at the moment... He told me to take some time off until early next week."

"Oh...okay. I hope you're not disappointed?"

"No.", he shook his head. "Because I had an idea. When is your next Doctor's appointment?", he asked.

"Wednesday."

"Then it would fit. Would you like to go on a little trip?", he began, his eyes lighting up all at once. "My grandfather has a house in Wisconsin. Right by the river. What, if we just got out of town for a few days? I think that would be good for us."

She thought about it for a moment. Before she could say anything, he continued.

"The city is only a few minutes by car, if that's what's bothering you," he said. "There's a hospital there, too. But you texted me earlier that you're fine, right? I'm not worried. You'll really be able to rest there... I'll go fishing. We can make a fire and roast the fish right over the open flame."

"That's your idea of a relaxing weekend?", she teased him, smiling. To her, the trip sounded tempting, too. She loved the outdoors and the quiet. She would be able to take her camera with her and do a little Photography...

"You don't have to do anything. I promise.", he said.

"No! I'm just kidding!", she replied. "It sounds wonderful. I'm only asking you one thing... I don't want to see you gutting the fish." He shook his head and she smirked. She just couldn't resist his enthusiastic expression. "Okay. When?"

"Yeah?" he smiled. "Tomorrow?"

She smiled and nodded. "Tomorrow."

He kissed her briefly, then he went to go in her bedroom. "Come on, pack your bag and we'll go to my place. You tell me what to pack."

She ran after him and stopped him at doorway. "You don't actually want to go to my closet right now...", he had already opened one of the doors. "Jay, stop!", she laughed.

"Do you have something to hide?", he asked with a grin.

"No... But I don't want you to see my embarrasing wardrobe."

"But, I'm allowed to see you in your most embarrasing lingerie one day, aren't I?", he moved closer. "I mean, eventually, when we're both fit and healthy."

She put her hand on his cheek and kissed him. Of course, she had already thought about being intimate with him. She just didn't know when she would actually feel ready. Until a few weeks ago, she had believed she would never be open for Intimacy again. But he was making sure that she was slowly healing. Not just physically, but mentally as well.

"You're the only one, who gets to see my lingerie someday.", she promised him. "Now, go. Go over in the living room so I can pack my bag."

He didn't move. "I'll be happy to help you. You need to take it easy, remember?"

"Of course... And you're helping me, with no intentions in spotting something in my closet?"

"Intentions? Me?", he opened another closet door and looked at her challengingly.

She laughed. "Jay, I don't own any lingerie at all!", she then tried to stop him.

"I don't believe you.", he said, now turning back to the closet. He pulled out a tattered old t-shirt, that she had owned in ages. She loved that shirt, but that was definitely one of the things, that she would´ve hidden from him. Her eyes widened and he chuckled.

"Jay!", she took the shirt from him and threw it on her bed. Then she grabbed his arm and pulled him away. "Go. Please go!"

He sighed and finally moved away, but not without giving her another unmistakable look. Fiora watched him go with a mixture of shame and butterflies in her stomach. She was really starting to look forward to their weekend and she wondered, if she maybe might had something halfway pretty hidden in her closet. Just in case...  
  


/  
  


Jay drove along the well known gravel road. He could hardly wait until he could finally see the house. He glanced over at Fiora, who was looking out the window with interest. Then finally, the old log house came into view and Jay turned onto the property that had belonged to his grandfather and was now used by his dad from time to time. Will had checked for him to see if the house was currently empty, since he hadn't had any contact with his father in ages.

"Wow." Fiora exclaimed. She seemed to like it. "It's beautiful!"

"Wait until you see the garden and the river.", he himself was also excited.

He parked the car and they got out. Fiora carefully breathed in the autumn air. He was pleased that she seemed to like it here. She walked slowly towards the entrance. He grabbed one of their bags and followed her. He would get the second bag later. For now, he wanted to go inside and show her around.

Fiora followed him into the building and the first thing that caught her eye, was the large glass front in the back of the living room. Outside was a wild garden, surrounded by trees. The leaves were slowly turning color and she immediately felt at home. She also liked the rustic furnishings of the cabin.

"What do you say?", he asked proudly.

"It´s great...", she answered and went further inside. "The view is so beautiful!"

He smiled and walked past her to open the sliding door, that led to the outside. She could hear the water of the nearby river and various bird calls.

"Okay. We'll stay longer.", she said and he laughed.

She followed him outside. A small path led to a hut, where they stored some wood. Then, further back, they reached the river. A small dock provided the perfect place to perch. She turned around and looked at the house from here. It was just perfect.

After Jay and Fiora had recovered a bit from the drive, Jay had suggested that they´d take another short drive into town, to get the necessities for the next few days.

He really liked the place and the surrounding area. Everything here had its own charm and he felt comfortable here. Of course, visits to the places he had used to visit with his family always brought back some wistful memories, but by now he felt he could handle them better.

He was pleased that Fiora seemed to feel at ease here as well. She carried a small bag with her camera with her and took pictures of whatever came in front of her lens. He was surprised and pleased to get to know this side of her as well. He had initially feared, that Woods had managed to take all of her passions from her. But she seemed to be doing surprisingly well, especially in the last few days.

Later, they had prepared something for dinner and had planned to end the evening quietly.

"Will you show me some of your photos?", he asked.

Surprised, she looked at him. She probably hadn't expected him to be interested. "Yes, of course. I have an Instagram account if you want to look at some pictures."

"Really?" he laughed. "I didn't think you were the social media type."

"It makes me happy when others like the pictures. Besides... You can be anonymous. That's what I like about it."

"You never thought about doing this professionally?"

She shook her head. "No, the pictures aren't that good. I do it, because it makes me feel good... the little details are important... you always try to get the perfect picture, you know?"

He eyed her, feeling his affection for her increase, as she opened up more and more to him. He couldn't help but walk over to her. He circled the table and offered her his hand.

"Come with me, I want to show you something.", he said.

She grabbed his hand and he walked her to the patio door. By now it was pitch dark outside, but that was exactly what he wanted to show her. They walked outside and she first turned her gaze to the starry night sky.

"Wow...", she said softly.

He put his hand on her cheek and she looked at him. "Look at the meadow.", he said and he turned around, so he could look in the right direction.

She did the same. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness, but then, after a few seconds she saw it...

"Fireflies!", Fiora exclaimed in surprise. "Oh my God!"

Jay laughed softly. He had loved watching the little dots of light as a child.

"I've never seen any before!", she exclaimed as she watched them with excitement. "This is amazing. Look, over there!"

He put his arm around her and rejoiced the moment with her.

"Those stupid Mosquitoes!", Fiora grumbled when they had returned back inside. "I could have stayed outside for hours. By tomorrow night, I really need to figure out how to photograph the fireflies... I need something for long exposure on my cell phone... An App. Can we go into town tomorrow afternoon, so I can get on the internet? There's really no reception out here." Fiora looked at Jay excitedly and he just smiled. "What?", she asked.

"I don't think I've ever heard you talk that much.", he said with a grin.

Uncertain, she looked at him. "Is that bad?"

"Oh, God, no!", he laughed, coming over to her. "It's nice to finally have you back... The real you."

She smiled and gave him a quick kiss. "Thanks for this.", she said.

He waved it off. Smiling, he walked back to the dining table. "I'm afraid the food is cold now.", he said.

"Never mind.", she also took her seat and started to continue eating.

"Do you realize, that we haven't had a single real date yet?", he asked all at once.

"I think we're past that by now, aren't we?", she raised her eyebrows.

"Tomorrow night.", he decided, "We're going out for dinner. To a sinfully expensive restaurant..."

"Let's go to a regular restaurant," she interrupted him. "Pizza or pasta, that's nice."

He stopped her by raising a hand. "...to a sinfully expensive... Italian restaurant.", he continued. "We´ll talk all evening about our plans for the future. After that, we know that we want two dogs. And a house, like this one."

"Cats.", she said, smiling.

He eyed her, searching for an appropriate answer, but then he gave up. "Cats? Don't you like dogs?"

"I love dogs, but you have to walk them all the time!"

"Then you´ll be happy to get rid of me for a while, when I walk the dogs!"

"You´d walk them?", she propped her chin in her hand and laughed. "Oh God, what are we doing here?"

"We're making plans, I told you!"

She decided to play along. "Okay. One dog, one cat. How does that sound?"

"Good! I'm open to negotiations.", he smiled.

"And where would your dream house be located?", she asked.

"Well, here, of course!"

"And if it should be in Chicago?"

"Evanston. Near the lake."

"You do know that the houses there cost a million dollars and up?"

"So what? We're just dreaming!"

"You seem to have given that a lot of thought... Okay, if we're just dreaming, then I´d want a garden. One like this one.", she said.

"With a Pool?"

"No Pool, we´d have the lake right outside our front door!" she pointed out.

He laughed softly and nodded. "Kids?", he then asked and looked at her.

She blinked and avoided his gaze the next moment. Of course, he had no idea that she couldn't have children...

"No.", she said quickly, not wanting to spoil the mood. "I'm too old for children."

He, however, had noticed her reaction and stood up. With one step he was with her, taking one of her hands and pulling her up.

"Okay... Enough daydreaming for one day...", he said, putting an arm around her waist and gently pushing her over to the couch. "The rest will follow tomorrow."

She took a seat and he kissed her immediately after he, too, sat down. He buried his hand in her hair, then he gently ran it along her neck. Gently, he pulled at the collar of her shirt and then he covered her skin with more kisses.

She was surprised, but let herself be carried away by the feeling that his touch caused in her. She closed her eyes and she felt the passion awakening in her body. When she opened her eyes again, she let her gaze wander to him.

In the corner of her eye, however, she saw a light approaching the house from the garden side. She startled and her entire body tensed. She pushed Jay away from her. He looked at her in consternation and sat up.

"There's someone out there!", she said, out of breath.

Jay turned his head and rose from the couch. He walked over next to the front door, where he´d left their emptied bags. He reached inside and Fiora recognized, that he took out his pistol.

"Stay here, get behind the couch.", he said, then he hid the pistol behind his leg and went to the patio door.

The light was getting closer by now, someone was using the small path from the river. Jay opened the patio door and stopped in the opening.

"Can I help you?", he called out, unable to make out who was outside.

Fiora could hear the Stranger's reply. "Will, is that you?", a man called out.

She immediately breathed a sigh of relief, because it was obviously someone the family knew.

"Mister Jenkins!", replied Jay immediately. "No, it's me. Jay, the brother."

"Jay Halstead? I haven't seen you around here in years!"

"No, Sir... It's been a while. We're just here for the weekend."

"Just wanted to make sure, that no kids snuck in here and had a party.", the man said. "Promised your dad I'd keep an eye on the house while it's empty."

"That's great, thanks Mister Jenkins!", Jay exclaimed. "Are you going down for some night fishing?"

"Plan to... It's a clear night... let's hope they bite well."

"Good luck then. And good night.", Jay concluded the conversation and finally pulled the patio door shut again. He came back into the living room and put the gun on a shelf. Then he came over to her. "It's all good," he said. "Just the neighbor..."

"I'm sorry...", she said. "I panicked for a second."

"No one knows we're here. We're safe here.", he gently said. "It´s alright. Come on... let's clean up the kitchen and then let´s go to sleep, shall we?"

She nodded and followed him, as she watched the light outside get further and further away.  
  
/

  
They got up late the next morning and Jay was glad, that Fiora still seemed to be comfortable in seclusion, despite their evening visitor. After breakfast, he had suggested that he´d do some fishing down by the dock, while she had spent what felt like hours walking around in the garden and the area with her camera. Eventually, she had joined him and they had enjoyed the nature surrounding them. After a while, a fish had actually bitten, but it had been so small, that Fiora had insisted on throwing it back into the river.

Now they had returned from their visit to the restaurant and were sitting on the couch, full and satisfied. Fiora had used the time in town to download several Apps to her smartphone. She wanted to photograph the Fireflies by tomorrow evening, because it had started to rain lightly. Jay had lit the fireplace and the warmth was starting to make him sleepy.

"That was a really nice day.", she said, as she leaned against him and gazed into the diminishing flames.

"For me, too.", he replied. "But I'm getting tired... Shall we go to bed?"

She nodded and got up to go to the bathroom, before he did.  
  
/

  
Fiora had really enjoyed the day. She was lying in bed next to Jay, who was already sound asleep. She could hardly believe how normal and natural it felt. How they were interacting with each other... it fit.

She had thought about what it would mean to share an apartment with him in everyday life. But she was aware, that it was much too early for such a consideration. Besides, she knew this here was nothing like their life in Chicago.

When Jay had fully recovered, he would be experiencing things on a daily basis, that she probably couldn't even imagine. How would he handle things then? She had only briefly experienced how impulsive he could be, how anger could take a hold on him.

And she didn't know herself how her life in Chicago would turn out. Where would she find an apartment? Would she continue to work at the 21st Precinct or should she look for another job? They both still had to find out all of that and that would take time. For now, she wanted to enjoy the remaining hours with him, before everyday life caught up with them.

Jay turned over to his uninjured side in his sleep and he mumbled something. He buried his hand under the pillow. She regarded him for a moment and she was startled, when he suddenly winced. He turned on his back again and continued to mumble while he shook his head. She realized that he was having a nightmare.

She sat up carefully. Some movements were still difficult and it took her a moment to lean over to him. She put a hand on his shoulder, to wake him up. The moment she touched him, he startled and sat up. Within the next second he grabbed her arm, held it tightly and stared at her. Then he squeezed, his grip getting harder and Fiora tried to free herself, when it started to hurt. She realized that he hadn't woken up, that he was still trapped in his nightmare.

"Jay! Wake up!", she felt panic rise in her, as she couldn't get loose. "It's me! Jay!"

Then finally, he seemed to wake up. He blinked and then, he let go of her immediately.

"I'm sorry...", he said abruptly. He turned away and slid off the mattress. He stood up and walked around for a few moments. "Did I hurt you?"

She shook her head. Heart pounding, she watched him, then she got off the bed as well. "Are you okay?", she asked.

"That shouldn't have happened... I'm sorry.", he said, running his hand through his hair, "Not here..."

"You had a nightmare. You can't control that...", she walked towards him, but he backed away.

"I... I'll be right back.", he said and walked past her, out of the room.

She was left alone, not knowing what she could do to help him.

Jay went into the kitchen, poured himself a glass of water and sat down at the kitchen table. He propped his head in his hand and closed his eyes. Why had the nightmare caught him here? He was happy here, so why?

He cursed himself for grabbing Fiora, but it was a reflex that he had been trained to have. He would never be able to put that damned time behind him.

He felt the guilt working its way up. He had hurt her...

"Jay?"

She was here... Why hadn't she stayed in the bedroom? He didn't want her to see him like this. He lifted his head and looked at her.

"Fi, go back to bed, I'm fine.", he said.

"No, you're not.", she replied and she just stood there. She eyed him and he looked away. "Talk to me, please?"

"I don't want to talk.", he took a sip from his glass. "Please, go."

"Remember what I told you at the Precinct?", she came closer. "You can talk to me about it."

"But I don't want to.", he hated himself for pushing her away with his words, but he wanted to be alone right now.

"I also told you that I wouldn't push you. But I'm here, okay?"

He nodded and took another sip of water. Finally, she turned and walked away.

As she went away, he immediately felt bad and he stood up. He ran after her. She had just reached the door to the bedroom, when he caught up with her. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry.", he said, and she turned to him. "It's... I don't understand why it happened. It's been two good days and it just shouldn´t happen here..."

He felt the tears coming and he put his hand in front of his eyes. She reached for him and pulled him close. The touch loosened the last barricades that he had tried to keep up and he embraced her. They stood there and she waited patiently, until he´d calmed down and until he broke away from her. He shivered as he walked over to the couch and sat down. She followed him and waited if he would say anything. He wiped the tears from his face.

"It's the same dream over and over again.", he said in a strained voice. "This one dream... it always plays out the same way and I'm always too late."

"Is it how it happened there?", she asked softly.

He nodded. "She died... And a Comrade, a friend...", he said. "I could have stopped her..."

"Somtimes, you can´t control things..."

He looked at her. "I didn't think humans were capable of such things until then."

She just nodded and pulled him closer again. He was glad she didn't ask further. That she didn't want to know any details. He didn't want to talk about it any further.

"Hey, lie down here," she said. "I'll make you some tea. I'll be right over there."

She walked into the kitchen and he let himself slide to the side. He pulled his legs up onto the couch and he closed his eyes. He was exhausted.  
  
/  
  


When Fiora returned to the couch, Jay was already fast asleep. She was glad that he had calmed down. She hoped that he would be better in the morning. With the cup in her hand, she took a seat on one of the armchairs and looked at him thoughtfully.

She herself had fortunately not had any nightmares since the recent incident with Woods. What Jay had experienced in Afghanistan, must had been so drastic, that it still tormented him so much years later. The little he had told her had already shocked her, but she was sure there were much worse events than the ones that he even talked about.

She wondered if he sought medical assistance from time to time. She didn't know if she should approach him about it, though. She decided to wait for the next day to see, if he wanted to talk about it. She went back into the bedroom and pulled the blanket off the bed. She put it on him, while she returned to the armchair. A little later, she had also fallen asleep and when she woke up, it was already dawning outside.

Jay was no longer lying on the couch, so she got up and looked around. He wasn't in the bathroom or the bedroom. Then she noticed, that the patio door was ajar. She wrapped herself in the blanket, that was lying on the couch. Then she walked over to the patio door and slipped outside.

She saw that Jay was sitting on the little dock, looking out at the river. There was a dog sitting next to him. She had no idea who it belonged to or where it had come from, but the picture that presented itself to her, was beautiful. The sun was just rising and bathed everything in a golden light. Some mist still hung over the grass and the dew glistened on the tips of the small, wild flowers.

She quickly went back inside, put away the blanket and got her camera. She went back outside, walked a few steps forward and then she carefully crouched down to get the grass and the flowers in the photo. She looked at her camera's display and waited for the lens to focus. Then she pulled the trigger. The picture was beautiful and she smiled, as she looked at it. She placed the camera on the edge of the patio and took the wooden steps down. Slowly, she approached Jay on the gravel path. The dog noticed her first, jumped up and came running towards her happily. It was a brown Mixed breed dog, about knee-high with tousled fur. When it reached her, she laughed softly and slowly crouched down to pet the dog.

"That's Wilson!", she heard Jay, as he came up to her. "He's Mr. Jenkins' dog. Always hungry, hangs around here."

She smiled at him. "Good morning."

"Good morning to you.", he squatted down as well and took over fondling the dog. He laughed, as Wilson licked across his face. "It's okay...", he said to the little guy.

"He seems to like you.", she laughed.

"Wilson seems to like everybody, if old Jenkins is to be believed. He eats his way through the whole neighborhood."

"Speaking of which. We've got some leftover meat in the fridge..."

"Wilson will adore you.", he said, rising and indicating to the dog to follow him.

Fiora watched them, until they disappeared in the house.  
  
/

  
Jay watched as Wilson pounced on the meat that he had set out for him on a plate. Fiora also came back in and put her camera on the countertop in the kitchen.

"Are you feeling better?", she asked cautiously.

He looked at her and nodded. "I can only keep apologizing for what happened.", he said.

He still felt bad about the incident.

"We both know, it's not your fault.", she replied. "There's nothing to apologize for."

"The last thing I want to do, is hurt you.", he lowered his head.

"I know... nothing happened."

He fell silent.

"Breakfast?", she asked after a moment. "What good can I do for you?"

He looked at her again. He could hardly believe, that she wasn´t reproaching him. He felt himself slowly relaxing again.

"I should do something good for you.", he then said and went to the coffee machine.  
  
/

  
They had spent their last day in the cabin, quite relaxed. Fiora was glad that Jay had been able to enjoy the day after all, despite the incident during the night. He had finally managed to catch a fish of an acceptable size and they had prepared it for dinner.

Fiora had managed to take some pictures of the Fireflies that evening, which made her very happy.

She´d almost suggested to him to stay a few days longer, but their life in Chicago was calling them back and she knew, that they had to return back to reality.

Jay steered the car off the highway and merged into the flowing traffic. They were already on their way back to Chicago and they had just passed the city limits.

"Home sweet home.", he muttered when he had to stop at a traffic light.

That night, Fiora and he had grown even a little closer, even though they didn´t have Sex, due to both of their injuries. He was sure, however, that Fiora would be able to put the traumatic experiences behind her and that she would hopefully become completely involved with him. But not only for this reason he would have loved to stay away with her for a few days longer. He had really enjoyed their time together and the peace and quiet.

"Shall we grab a quick bite and then head back to my place?" she suggested at that moment.

He nodded, as he refocused on the traffic. "Good idea."

They stopped at a Diner and he was glad to stretch his legs after the long drive. They ate and arrived at Fiora's apartment building shortly after. He parked the car and they took the elevator upstairs.

Outside her apartment door, lay some advertising brochures and a small package. He bent down and took the things inside, while she followed him. Inside, he flopped down on the couch first and he put the advertising and the package on the table.

"Shall we turn back around and go back to Wisconsin?" she jokingly asked from the kitchen, while she got them something to drink.

"Oh yeah...", he was already tired of the big city noise and it would take him a while to get used to it again.

She handed him a soft drink and sat down next to him. "It was so nice. We'll have to do this again soon."

"Absolutely.", he opened the bottle and took a sip.

Fiora put her own bottle on the table and took the stack of advertisements to herself. She flipped through them and put the brochures aside. Then she took the package and turned it over. It was unlabeled.

"Maybe something from the neighbors...", she muttered. She pulled off the tape and flipped open the box.

Jay could just make out some paper, that had been placed as the top layer of the contents. Then a click was heard. Within the next moment, a bright white light blinded him as the package exploded in Fiora's hands. He heard a deafening bang and felt himself thrown to the side by the force of the detonation. He crashed into the nearest wall and immediately lost consciousness.  
  
/  
  
\- To be continued -


	6. Chapter 6

/  
  
Jay awoke with a terrible headache and a loud ringing in his ears. He was incredibly tired and had no idea where he was or what had happened. He heard noises around him, but the ringing in his ears was at first much louder than the outside world. Then, his body seemed to adjust and he realized, that someone was talking to him.

"Jay! Can you open your eyes for me?" It was Will... It was Will's voice that he heard. "Jay?"

He tried to focus on his brother and with fluttering eyelids, he finally opened his eyes. Everything was blurry, but the white and green colors made him understand that he was in a hospital room. His eyes finally focused and he looked at Will, as his brother leaned over him.

"Very good... stay awake.", the latter said and Jay felt a hand on his cheek. "Welcome back."

Jay just looked at him, exhausted. He was completely dazed and he didn't remember how he got here.

"What...?", he tried to ask a question, but his tongue lay heavy in his mouth.

"Don't try to speak yet... I'll explain everything later. You're in Med, everything will be fine, okay?"

Jay nodded slightly and closed his eyes again. Only seconds later, he was back in a deep sleep.  
  
/  
  


When he woke up the next time, he already found it easier to concentrate. He realized, that Will was sitting next to his bed, looking at him scrutinizingly.

"What happened?", Jay asked, noticing that he was hoarse and that his throat hurt when he spoke.

"You were unconscious for quite a while. There was an explosion.", Will answered. "A package bomb."

All at once he remembered what had happened in Fiora's apartment and he wanted to sit up. But Will reacted immediately and put a hand on his uninjured shoulder. With gentle pressure he held him down on the mattress.

"Don't!"

Distraught, Jay looked at him.

"How is Fiora?", he then asked tensely. "Is she alive?"

"She's alive. Calm down, don't move, okay?"

Will let go of him and sat back down. "I'll tell you what's going on if you promise, that you'll stay calm."

"Will...", slowly Jay was getting scared and his heartbeat increased, which the monitor next to his bed immediately indicated with a warning tone.

"Please, stay calm...", Will turned off the alert tone. "We'd have to sedate you, if you..."

"What? Are you crazy?", Jay interrupted him. "Just tell me what's going on!"

Will leaned forward a little and propped his elbows on the mattress. Then he put a hand on his arm. Jay wondered about the unusual gesture.

"The package bomb was stuffed with nails.", Will began. "You were hurt, especially your back."

He swallowed, trying to process the information as Will spoke. He wasn't in pain...so how bad could it be?

"And Fiora?", he asked.

"Fiora got most of the blast, but she's alive. Let me tell you what's going on with you first..."  
  
Jay was silent now, but his tension was growing.

„You had Surgery and we removed the splinters in your back. Some had gone almost to your spinal cord. We were able to remove them, but because of the injuries, there is a swelling in the area of the fourth Lumbar Vertebra. The nerve impulses cannot be transmitted at the moment. We could not detect any reaction to stimuli. At the moment... I'm afraid, your legs are paralyzed."

Jay blinked, trying to process what he had just heard. He looked down at himself and immediately tried to move his legs. Only now he realized, that he actually couldn't feel anything from his waist up. For a moment he felt as if he could no longer breathe as the realization set in. His heart began to beat faster.

"How long?" was all he asked.

"How long does it last? It varies... Days, maybe weeks. You'll get Corticosteroids and maybe we'll have to puncture again or put in a drain, to relieve the pressure. That remains to be seen. Your prognosis is good though, you'll definitely be able to walk again."

Jay closed his eyes and pushed away the thought that he might be tied to this bed for weeks. He tried to fight down the rising panic.

"And what about Fiora?", he then asked again, glancing at his brother.

Will took a breath and he hesitated before speaking further. Jay tried to brace himself internally. He understood by now, that there would be no good news here. It was bad, he realized.

"She took the brunt of the bomb.", Will began. "Her hands are badly injured, especially her left hand. It's going to take some more surgery here. But what worries us the most is the fact, that some splinters have entered her brain. She has already been in Surgery twice... At the moment, however, she is in a coma."

"An induced coma?"

"No... She didn't wake up after the Anesthesia wore off. Some damage to the brain is quite extensive. She had quite a few Hemorrhages in some brain areas."

"I want to see her," he said.

Will shook his head. "You're not fit for transport at the moment."

"No...", Jay said in disbelief and he tried to push himself up, but Will held him back. "None of this can be happening!"

"Be reasonable!", Will said. "You can't go to her right now. I'm sorry! But I'll keep you updated with everything, I promise!"

Jay felt despair gripping him now and tears suddenly welled up. How could it have come to this? Why hadn't he been more careful?

"I'm sorry.", he heard Will say again and Jay turned his head aside, so his brother wouldn't see him crying. "I'll give you something to calm down, we'll talk again later..."

"Don't.", Jay said immediately, without looking at him. "I don't want to be drugged. Please, just leave me alone."

"Okay...", Will hesitated for a moment, squeezing his arm, but then he stood up. "I'll check on any news on Fiora and then I'll be back. I'll be on call all the time, if you need me... Jay?"

Jay didn't respond. He fell silent and closed his eyes.  
  
/  
  
  


Just hours later, Jay received a visit from Seargent Voight and Adam Ruzek. The colleagues must have been informed that he had woken up. They approached his bedside.

"Hey.", Adam said. "How are you?"

"Halstead.", Seargent Voight greeted him. "We've been worried about you."

"Sorry, Searge.", he replied, looking at them.

"It's good to see you awake.", Voight pointed to the chair next to Jay's bed and Adam sat down, while he remained standing. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Do you remember what happened?"

Jay nodded, trying to make a statement as accurate as possible. "A package bomb. The package was outside Fiora's front door. It wasn't particularly heavy, not labeled, I couldn't see any special features. It was taped and I could only make out some paper, when she opened it."

"We've already done some investigation.", Voight said after Jay finished his description. "We were able to recover partial prints on some of the pieces."

Jay raised his eyebrows. He was surprised that something had already been found. "Do you have a name yet?"

"Alexander Cayden.", Adam said.

Jay stared at him in disbelief. "The founder of the Darknet Forum? The Admin?"

"Cayden is an IT specialist and programmer. He´s a media mogul in Asia. He has money and influence. We went to his last address and were able to secure hard drives and disks, lots of sick stuff," Adam explained further. "He seems to be the mastermind behind many abuse cases."

"What does that mean?", asked Jay.

"We found recordings and videos.", Voight said hesitantly. "Even from the time, when Woods took his first victims."

Jay couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You have videos of Fiora and the other two victims?", he asked and Voight nodded. Jay swallowed and he felt himself tense up inside. "Why hadn't anyone found out about this before? And why are we just finding this now? Does he want us to go after him? I mean... the prints, the videos? This was staged."

"This Cayden guy knows how to make himself invisible. He always stayed in the background, but headed for money. He knows we've been hunting him since the Forum came into our focus. We think he's playing a game with us and you and Fiora were his first victims.", Voight answered.

"That's sick!", Jay groaned. His heart was racing and he wished he could do something. Upset, he looked at Voight and Adam.

"We assume that he and Woods knew each other back then and that Woods was the active part, while Cayden just wanted the recordings.", the Seargent continued. "He set up a network and sold the data on the Darknet. It was also certainly him who found out that Fiora had returned to Chicago and who ultimately organized Woods' escape. We found Fiora's home address and the Precinct address on his laptop."

"We went back to the scene where Erin and Fiora were held. There, we found a hidden camera that had transmitted the video to an unknown IP address.", Adam reported. "Again, we suspect Cayden is behind this."

Jay felt himself growing angrier. "He's been cashing in on the suffering of these women."

"Looks like it.", Adam said. "We're trying to find this sick bastard, but so far he's been able to hide."

"He's actually playing us.", Jay said. "All that evidence..."

"That was deliberate. A show of force," the Sergeant said. "Cayden has the means to leave the country at any time and go into hiding, if he wants to."

Jay looked out the window and took in a breath. He was agitated and angry and worst of all, he couldn't participate in the hunt for this sick bastard. He was trapped here.

"We just wanted to update you on the latest findings.", Voight put a hand on his shoulder. "You need to get back to rest now... Get well quickly and we'll do our best out there, okay?"

"You'll get any news right away.", Adam added. "Get well soon."

Jay realized that he really had to rely on his colleagues now. He had no choice. He tried to gain some control over his emotions.

"Thanks...", Jay therefore only said wanly and nodded at them, while the two turned to leave.  
  


/

  
For the whole evening and the next day, Jay was brooding over the news that Voight and Ruzek had brought him. So many officials had already been involved with the cases, but Cayden had apparently managed to stay in the background all this time.

He wondered how much money he was paying people like Woods or Parker so that they would not spill the beans during interrogations. It had to be vast sums. By now, he also understood why Campell had put himself in the line of fire twice, first assisting in Woods' escape attempt and later showing up at the handover. It was money... Campell had allowed himself to be bought. Fortunately for them, however, he had come clean at the Precinct after he had been arrested.

He just wondered why Cayden had come forward now. It couldn't just be because of the Forum. Was it because he hadn't gotten what he wanted in the end? Fioras death? Was he now carrying out a public vendetta against her? He was glad that Seargent Voight had placed a guard outside Fiora's hospital room.  
  


/

  
On the next day, Jay was trying to find useful information about coma patients on the Internet. His brother had told him that Fiora's condition still hadn't changed. He was currently reading an article on his Smartphone, when someone knocked on the door frame. He turned his head and discovered a woman in her late 50s. It took him only a few seconds to recognize her. It was Fiora's mother.

"Mrs. Hillsen?", he asked in surprise. Immediately, he put the cell phone down.

She smiled weakly and stepped inside. "You still recognize me, that's nice."

Jay nodded. Of course he recognized the woman. They, along with their friends, had also met at Fiora's parents' house in the past and Mrs. Hillsen had always been a great hostess.

"How are you, Jay?", she asked as she stepped up to the bed and looked at him.

She looked tired and her eyes revealed, that she had just been crying.

"I'll be fine, Mrs. Hillsen.", he said. He certainly didn't want to bother her with his problems. "More importantly, how is Fiora? Were you just with her?"

She sat down on the chair that was always placed next to his bed and looked at him sadly. "I just talked to the doctors. They don't know what's going to happen next... She's on an artificial respirator and will probably never be able to use her left hand properly again, if she wakes up."

"Give her time.", Jay said immediately.

"The doctors have advised me that we should try to take her off the ventilator tomorrow, to check if she's breathing on her own. They can only do that with my consent."

"Will you do that?", he asked anxiously.

"If she's not breathing on her own, then I want them to reconnect the machine. I'll spend the last of our money to make sure that she gets the best care for as long as possible, that's for sure."

Jay breathed in... so the doctors would already go as far as to discontinue the ventilator? This was upsetting news. He was glad that Fiora's family wouldn't let that happen.

"Have they informed you about what happened?", he then asked.

She started to cry. "We only found out about what happened here through the police. She hadn't told us anything."

"Certainly, not to worry you.", he said, trying to explain her actions.

"But, what she went through...why didn't she say anything?", she wiped away the tears. "But I know that you were with her, when the package bomb exploded... Were you two close?"

"Mrs. Hillsen, Fiora and I...we've become very close in the last few weeks.", he said carefully.

She smiled through her tears. "I'm so glad that she at least had you. She's been so terribly closed off these last few years. And so alone... I always thought I got another child back after the incident with Woods back then."

"I'm so sorry.", he said. "We tried to do everything we could to find Woods and his aides. All of this... this shouldn't have happened."

"I'm sure you did your best,", she said, reaching across the bed and grabbing his uninjured hand. "I'm very grateful for that. Thank you for being there for her."

Jay was moved by her words and he looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Of course, Mrs. Hillsen."

"Please, call me Amelia.", she said, patting his hand. She hesitated for a moment before she continued. "I have a big favor to ask of you."

"Okay?"

"My husband, unfortunately, is very ill. He has COPD and depends on me to help him at home. Therefore, I can't stay in Chicago for long... I know you're not well yourself and it's not right for me to ask you to do this... But would you keep us up to date with everything? With everything you hear about her condition?"

He nodded. "Yes, of course. That's no problem at all."

"Thank you.", she smiled again. "It takes a huge weight off my shoulders knowing you're there."

Jay was glad that she had come to him. It was important that Amelia knew, that Fiora had been doing well and that she had blossomed again. That hopefully, she now had the strength to fight for her survival, that they had plans.

Although it was hard for him, he decided to tell her about the last weeks that they had spent together.  
  


/

  
The next day, Jay felt his mood tilt and the well known feeling of depression begin to gnaw at him. The last few days had been upsetting and consuming, but at least he had managed to keep himself busy. He had been able to give hope to Fiora's mother, even though it had been painful for him to bring back the memories.

But now he had the feeling, that nothing was moving forward... He looked out the window. That morning he felt, like he hadn´t slept for weeks. He had been at a loss for words during Will's visit and he had really just been waiting for him to leave again. He turned his head, as someone entered the room.

"Dr. Charles.", he wondered to see the chief of Psychiatry come into the room. Then he cursed inwardly... Of course, Will must had sent him to see him.

"Hello Mr. Halstead.", the older Medic said, sitting down with him. "We certainly didn't think we'd ever be talking under these circumstances... How are you doing?"

Jay frowned and looked at him searchingly. Maybe this wasn't about him at all, it flashed through his mind. "Did something happen to Fiora?", he asked anxiously.

Dr. Charles did not answer immediately, he took his time. "I'm here to check on you first. But I can report to you, that an attempt was made this morning to take Miss Hillsen off the Respirator. Unfortunately, unsuccessful."

"That means, she has to remain on the Ventilator?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, for now. We'll try again soon to see if there's any progress."

"Dr. Charles, tell me. What do you think about Fiora's chances?"

"It's all open. Similar to yours.", he tried to turn the conversation back on him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, that Miss Hillsen may wake up first thing tomorrow, or she may not wake up for weeks or months. And you'll be able to walk again. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe not for a few weeks. It's an incredible burden that sits on you, not being able, to take any influence. Don't you think?", he looked at him promptly.

Jay had no intention of explaining himself to the doctor in any way. He hadn't asked for this conversation.

"What bothers me much more is, that I'm a burden to others right now. You don't have to do this, take care of other patients. I'm fine.", he told the Doctor.

Dr. Charles did not address his dismissal. "You're not a burden to anyone. The staff is here for you, of course. That's their job. What you've been through is a terrible trauma. I just want to make sure that this hasn't opened up even older wounds."

"I don't understand..."

"This wasn't the first bomb blast, you've experienced. That you survived..."

Now he realized what Dr. Charles was getting at. His past. His time in the Military. Something he certainly wouldn't talk about here and now.

"With all due respect, Sir. I don't want to think about my time in the Regiment right now."

"Then you don't have nightmares? Trauma-associated thoughts?"

"No, Sir.", Jay felt himself becoming tense inside. "You're right to think that it's frustrating as hell to have to lie here, while my friend is fighting for her life just a few feet away! That I'm in here, while my Unit is out looking for this Monster and I can't help with that. I should be able to do my part!" Upset, he looked at the doctor.

Dr. Charles took in a deep breath, before saying anything. "You have to have trust, that this time, you are not the one in control. You have to understand, that the others are just as energetic and willing to do their part. The doctors over there are doing everything they can, to keep Miss Hillsen alive. They know what they are doing. And your colleagues, your Unit, is doing everything they can to find the Perpetrator. They are good at their jobs, too. You know that. Allow yourself to step back and to get better."

Jay blinked and looked at him. He knew the Medic was right. But it was so damn hard to admit it. So he just nodded.

Dr. Charles finally got up from the chair. "All right. You know where to find me, if you need to talk." He headed for the door.

"Thank you, Dr. Charles", Jay called after him after all.

The elder turned and looked at him. He just smiled knowingly and then he left the room.  
  


/

  
Jay had really tried to take Dr. Charles' words to heart. But he had been sitting in a semi-upright position in the bed for days by now. The doctors had told him, that to avoid thrombosis and embolism, he had to be positioned at a certain angle. Positioned... he hated being labeled and treated like an object.

It was slowly but surely draining him, to be condemned to wait and to do absolutely nothing, while he could be much better be of use out there, finally tracking down Cayden. He was still hooked up to all sorts of tubes and IVs. Someone was constantly coming in to check on him or his vitals, but he wanted nothing more than to be responsible for himself again.

He had realized that the right side of his face was covered with sores, when they had brought him a razor two days earlier. He hadn't shaved. He didn't care what he looked like. They had taken some more splinters out of his right arm, but he hadn't seen his back yet. His left arm was still in a sling. He was still wearing a splint, because of the fracture on his wrist... He was beginning to find it almost unbearable to be physically limited like this.

They had sent different Psychologists by several times, but after his conversation with Dr. Charles, he wouldn't talk to anyone except to his colleagues. They took turns, coming by to visit him and to keep him updated on the Investigation. And he talked to Will, even though he tended to get angry, as soon as he showed up. His brother actually let him have all the developments about Fiora's condition, but Jay wanted to see her. He was getting more and more impatient.

"Hey, Partner.", Erin just entered the room and she smiled at him.

She was doing quite well by now and Jay was glad, that she had been able to return to desk-duty after the attack by Woods. She visited him regularly.

"How are you feeling today?", she asked. She came to the bedside and sat down in the chair. She had brought two coffees in paper cups.

"Like yesterday.", he answered emotionlessly.

"It will be fine.", she said and gave one of the cups to him.

He took it and placed it on the side cart, that stood to his right.

"Pumpkin Spice Latte.", she smiled wryly. "It's Halloween soon..."

He wasn't in the mood for small talk, so he decided to ask about the case. "Do you finally have any idea where Cayden is?"

She shook her head. "The Special Victims Unit is still on it and we're continuing to investigate as well. At some point, he'll make a mistake. Then we'll be ready."

Erin pulled out her cell phone and searched for a picture. "Look, Kevin cleaned up your desk for your return. Never looked so good. Everyone says hi, by the way.", she tried to distract him.

He just glanced at the photo and then looked out the window. She meant well, but he wished nothing more than to be able to reappear at his workplace himself.

A nurse came in at that moment, bringing a bouquet of flowers in a vase.

Jay frowned. "Is that for me?", he asked, surprised.

"It was dropped off at the front desk by a Delivery service," the nurse said. "There´s a greeting card."

Erin put her phone down on the mattress, stood up and took the flowers from her. "Thank you, they're beautiful. Jay, do you have any idea who these are from?"

She looked at him and showed him the bouquet. They were white lilies. Erin walked around the bed and placed the vase on the side cart.

"Would you please read the card?", Jay asked her.

Erin took off the clip with the small envelope and went back to her seat. As she sat down, she opened it and looked at him conspiratorially. She was curious who would send him something like that. He himself, had no idea. Then she read the lines and all at once gave him a surprised look.

"What?", he asked.

Erin handed him the small card. It said:

_Sorry, no happy ending for you, Detective.  
\- A.C. - _

The flowers were from Alexander Cayden! Surprised, he stared at Erin, who immediately took the card out of his hand and put it on the bed, next to her cell phone. Then she ran out of the room.

"I have to go downstairs!", she shouted.

Jay knew she was on her way to the front desk, to see if she could still catch the Delivery guy. Then a completely different idea occurred to him: Maybe Cayden had delivered the flowers himself and he was here right now... What if he was trying to get to Fiora?

He felt his heartbeat quicken. He was going to call Erin, but then his eyes fell on her cell phone, lying next to him on the mattress. He rang for the nurse. Heart pounding, he waited for someone to come... But nothing happened.

"Damn!", he pushed himself up with his right arm. Then he grabbed the protective grate that was attached to the side of the hospital bed and he heaved himself into a completely upright, sitting position. He bent his upper body forward. He had to get out of that damn bed... Then suddenly, a sharp pain drove into his back. He groaned and paused. Now, the nurse appeared in the doorway and immediately ran to him.

"What are you doing?", she asked.

She grabbed him and pushed his upper body back onto the pillow. Jay groaned, as the movement sent a new wave of pain through his back. He began to sweat and tried to breathe against the pain. He clenched his teeth.

"Stay!", the nurse commanded, rushing out of the room.

Jay felt his entire body tense up as the pain in his back continued to radiate. Moments later, Dr. Rhodes rushed into the room, followed by the nurse.

"Diazepam and Novalgin, IV!", he instructed the nurse, who immediately rushed outside again. Dr. Rhodes felt his pulse. "Jay! What were you thinking?"

"Go to... To Fiora Hillsen's room, please!", Jay pressed out shakily. "Someone may be with her...the bomber..."

Dr. Rhodes looked at him scrutinizingly for a second, but then he started moving and Jay watched him go. He hoped it wasn't too late.

The nurse returned and injected the medication that Dr. Rhodes had ordered into the IV cannula in the back of his hand.

Only seconds later, he felt himself getting sleepy and his muscles relaxed. Then his eyes fell shut...  
  
/  
  


Jay didn't know how much time had passed before he woke up again. He noticed that he was no longer in his room, but that his bed had apparently been rolled into some hallway. There was no one to be seen. At least, however, the pain was gone.

"Hello?", he called out.

Then, Will came out of one of the adjacent rooms. He was holding some X-rays in his hand.

"You're such a stubborn idiot!", he snapped at him, coming over to the bed. "Do you know what you did there?", he tapped him on the chest and Jay winced. "You could have permanently damaged the tissue and nerves around the swelling!"

"What about Fiora? I don't care about anything else, Will!", Jay told him.

"Nothing is wrong with her! There was no one there!", Will replied and Jay breathed a sigh of relief. "Were you going to crawl into her room? Or what was your plan? To rip out your cannulas and crawl over there?"

Will was really angry and Jay knew he'd messed up. He never would have made it to her, of course he knew that, but he hadn't been able to hold back. He had to do something, he had to try.

"So, what now?", he asked.

"Now? Now I tell you that you got damn lucky again, you idiot!", Will ran his hand through his hair. "Dr. Rhodes told me that you were in pain when he came into your room. That meant, something changed. We did a CT scan and it looks like the swelling is finally going down. Next, we'll do an MRI."

Jay looked at him in surprise. "That means, it's getting better?"

"It means, that your action didn't damage anything. Now let's wait for the scans and then we'll do more tests this afternoon."

"Can I finally see her then?", he asked.

Will eyed him angrily, but then he finally nodded. "If the swelling continues to go down, then we'll start physical therapy. And yeah, then...then you can see her."

"Okay.", Jay nodded. "Good."

"I'll never understand you,", Will said, as he walked behind the bed and pushed him along. "One of these days, you're not going to be so lucky when you try to slam your head through a wall."

Jay didn't reply. For him, the most important thing right now was, that something was finally moving, that he was going to see Fiora and that he was getting out of here.

The tests had shown, that his body was indeed responding to stimuli again and that the nerve impulses were being passed on to his brain. So at least, he could slightly feel his legs again and if he tried hard, he could even move them a little. It was an immense relief to know, that he would soon not have to rely on the help of others for another few weeks.

In the meantime, Erin had sent him various information to his cell phone. They hadn't been able to trace where the flowers had been delivered from, but they were evaluating surveillance footage. However, the Receptionist had testified that a delivery truck had stopped in the driveway and it had not been Cayden, who had delivered the flowers. They were back to square one.

"You'll have your first Physio in the morning.", Will said, as he re-entered his room. "It's going to hurt, so be prepared for that."

"I don't mind", he replied. "And after the Physio -"

"Yes. I'll pick you up there and then I'll take you to her," Will interrupted him and then sat down. "Jay... You mustn't get your hopes up. She may never wake up again."

He lowered his eyes. "I know that. But I'm not ready to give up yet."

"I'm not saying that either,", he replied. "but please, be realistic. Are you prepared for what you're going to see?"

Jay had suspected for the last few days now, that Will had probably used the excuse that he shouldn't be moved so that he wouldn't be shocked at the sight of Fiora. When he had realized that Will had tried to keep him away from her, it had made him even angrier. Even if Will might have done it for his protection.

"I know how bad Mom looked, when she was hooked to the equipment.", he looked at Will again.

He was aware that he was hurting his brother with that sentence. Will hadn't been there, when their mother had finally died. Jay didn't know if he could ever forgive him for that. Will avoided his gaze and rose.

"I'll see you in the morning.", was all he said and then he left.

Jay turned his head and looked out the window. He didn't know if he was actually ready for the things that waited for him...

Physical therapy had actually been extremely painful and exhausting. The Therapist, a young woman named Megan, had put a lot of pressure on him. But she had also given him hope that he would soon be able to stand on his own two feet again. She was confident that he wouldn´t need any devices to steady himself very soon and that gave him strength, even though the training had pushed him to his limits, physically and mentally.

He was now back in a Wheelchair, waiting for Will to come by and pick him up. After a few minutes, he finally appeared and entered the room.

"How did he do?", he asked the Therapist, before greeting him with a light tap on his shoulder.

"Very well,", Megan replied. "I'll see you tomorrow then, Jay?"

"Two o'clock.", he nodded at her and Will released the brakes on the Wheelchair.

"I understand that you're not going to take my advice to go to therapy every other day?", he asked as they left the room.

"I want to get out of here as soon as possible.", Jay simply replied.

"I knew I could have saved my breath...", Will muttered, and they continued on their way in silence.

As they approached the Neurology ward, Jay's brother stopped in front of the Elevators and they waited, until they could go up. Jay glanced over his shoulder as he addressed Will again.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"About what?", Will continued to look at the Display above the elevator.

"What I said yesterday. About Mom."

"Okay."

"And that I've been such a pain in the ass and exhausting during the last few days.", he then added.

At last, Will walked around the wheelchair and looked at him. "You're always exhausting.", he then replied.

Jay snorted, but he decided to stay quiet. Then Will grinned and he knew that everything was fine between them.

Will nodded to the Police officer that was standing outside the hospital room, as he pushed Jay into the room, where Fiora was lying. By now, Jay's heart was pounding hard against his rib cage and he balked at seeing her in the condition that he feared.

The room was slightly darkened and only the screens next to the bed were brightly lit. They caught his eye first. He heard the ventilator working. Then, he saw her lying in the bed. She seemed somehow lost among all the equipment. Her face was almost unrecognizable under all the tubes and the tape, the band-aids and bandages... Then he realized that they had cut her hair. She wore a head bandage over the Surgical scars. Both hands had been covered with thick bandages, too.

Will pushed him up to the bed and set the brakes on the Wheelchair. Then he put a hand on his shoulder. The sight had shocked Jay even more, than he had previously thought.

"Can you leave me alone with her for a few minutes?", he asked his brother.

"Yeah, sure."

Jay heard Will move away. He looked at Fiora and then he propped his head in his hand. It was all much worse than he had thought. Carefully, he then placed his fingers on a free spot on her arm, that was not covered by bandages or IVs.

"Hello Fi...,", he said softly. "I'm sorry that I couldn't be here sooner."

He waited for some kind of reaction, he glanced at the screens, but nothing changed. Just the thought of her responding to his voice, was wishful thinking.

"Your mom and I have seen each other. And we write to each other, whenever we find out something new about you.", he continued. "It would be so nice, if you could be a part of our lives again."

Again, he stopped and his gaze rested on her pale, still face.

"I love you, I should´ve told you, when...", he whispered and his voice broke. He tried to fight down the tears that were welling up.

He feared that his brother would return at any moment or that the Officer at the door might hear him. It took all his willpower, not to break down at that moment...  
  
/  
  
  


A few weeks had passed since the accident and Jay had been back at work for a few days now. He visited Fiora regularly in the hospital, but unfortunately her condition had not changed so far.

Her external injuries had healed quite well and her hair was slowly growing back. Only her left hand was still in a bandage. But she had lost a lot of weight and he could almost no longer watch her Physical Deterioration. She was still being artificially fed and ventilated.

He had already spoken to Amelia several times on the phone and he continued to keep her informed about everything concerning Fiora's condition or about their further Investigation against Cayden.

Fiora's parents had given him a Power of Attorney, so that he could continue to receive information from the hospital and take care of things for them in Chicago, since Mr. Hillsen was also getting worse.

That morning, Amelia had texted him that they had to give up Fiora's apartment, because the cost of treatment at the hospital was beginning to exceed their budget. No one knew when or if she would wake up again and so the apartment had to be vacated, so they could at least save on rent.

Jay had driven to the apartment after work, which was still cordoned off as a crime scene. However, the Forensics investigation had long since been completed, so he cut the tape and unlocked the door.

Once Fiora's belongings would be gone, the apartment would be renovated and rented out again. He entered the rooms and looked around. He had agreed to help gather some personal belongings in advance, before the apartment would eventually be vacated by a company.

His eyes fell on the couch and the table, which clearly showed the traces of the explosion. There was a large, black burn mark on the ceiling and Fiora's dried blood could be seen on the couch. A little further away, on the floor by the outer wall, he recognized another blood stain... his blood.

A queasy feeling came over him and he hesitated. Where should he begin? He felt, as if he was invading her private space. His gaze fell on the bag that they had brought back from their trip to Wisconsin. Inside was her camera. He walked over and unzipped the bag. The camera lay on top. He took it out and turned it on. It was still charged, thankfully.

He searched the menu and discovered the photos from their trip to Wisconsin. He stopped for a moment and took in a deep breath, before he continued. Those had been his best days with her... He went into her bedroom and took the camera with him.

After taking a seat on the bed, he went through the pictures. She had taken some unnoticed photos of him and he liked them, because they were not posed. The nature shots she had taken of the area and of the garden were great. They showed what a talent she had. He felt tears welling up inside him. It was frustrating. She had been missing from his life for too long now. He pressed the button again to look at one last picture, before he would have to do something else, to distract himself.

The next photo showed him again... He was sitting at the end of the jetty by the river with his back turned to her. The sunrise bathed everything in a golden light. Next to him sat Wilson, Mr. Jenkins' dog. He immediately remembered that moment. He remembered how she suddenly stood behind him and how lovingly she had handled the dog. The photo gave him such a jolt, that he had to put the camera away. His gaze was lost and he ran his hand over his face.

The photo showed everything he had ever wanted for them both - and that they would probably never get...  
  
  


/

  
  
"Halstead, come into my Office for a moment, please."

Jay raised his head and met Voight's gaze. He immediately recognized, that something was wrong. He rose from his chair and followed the Seargent. Voight stood in the doorway, let him pass and then he closed the door. That was never a good sign. He sat down.

"I just got a call from Homicide.", Voight began and he sat down as well. "They found a female body over in Pilsen tonight."

Jay tried to read what this was about from his Supervisor's facial expression, but seeing through Voight was difficult and he couldn't tell, why he had called him in. It was unusual for him not to announce new cases in front of everyone. His insides tightened involuntarily.

"The victim, Macie Hold, was 22 years old. The procedure," Voight continued. "the injuries, the manner of the killing, are very similar to the pattern of Harald Woods. The young woman could be Fiora in appearance. I think they´d searched for a look alike."

Jay stared at him and now it was Voight, who was watching his reaction closely. Jay was still trying to process the information that he had just heard.

"A Tablet was found with the body," the Sergeant continued. "There was only one file found on it. A video. Investigators first thought the video showed the kidnapping of the current victim, since cameras were found at the scene. But then they realized, that the person shown, was Fiora."

Jay's mind began to race. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"A video of her first abduction."

"That was Cayden.", Jay then said immediately. "A message to us?"

Voight nodded. "A message to you. The Tablet was left in an envelope, addressed to you."

Jay swallowed dryly, as his heartbeat quickened. "What exactly does the video show?", he asked.

Voight hesitated, but Jay looked at him determinedly. He had to know.

"The attempted murder of Fiora," the Sergeant now said. "The last few minutes that Woods spent with her, before he left her behind."

"Before he left her to die.", Jay completed the sentence. "He only left her, because he assumed she wouldn't survive with a stab wound, that should have been fatal."

Voight nodded and it took all of Jay's willpower to stay calm. He was shocked, angry and concerned all at once.

"Has the Crime Scene been cleared yet?", he asked next.

"No. We can go there."

"Searge, we've got to find this bastard. Now," he said agitatedly.

"We will.", Voight replied with conviction.

Jay nodded and stood up. While the Sergeant informed the rest of the team, he remained standing in the doorway. Why had Cayden become so focused on Fiora and him? Why had another young woman to suffer and die?

Jay assumed that Cayden, as with the other murders, was not the perpetrator himself, but that he had merely wanted the video footage.  
That meant that he had found someone, who had imitated Woods' act. Someone, who had completed the murder this time...

The days passed and their Investigation against Cayden was stuck in a dead end, despite the new incident. Cayden had disappeared again and there was no trace of Macie Hold's killer. Jay was just angry and frustrated that Cayden had managed to elude all Authorities and Law enforcement personnel and managed to stay underground. This made the twist, that awaited him that day, all the more surprising.

"We have Alexander Cayden!", Antonio exclaimed Antonio towards him. Jay had just entered the Office that morning and Antonio had come right up to him. "The Special Victims Unit in Minneapolis has got him. We're leaving right away."

"Are you serious?", he asked in surprise.

"A surveillance camera caught the License plate of a car registered to him. And one of his employees used a Credit card downtown. The others are already downstairs. Voight wants to take the two of us and Erin to the Airport."

His heartbeat quickened and he followed Antonio to the large hall at the back of the building.

"Is it true, Searge?", he asked excitedly, as he joined the rest of the Unit.

"The Special Victims Unit had a tip, that there was some kind of swap meet going on at the Hotel Ivy by this weekend... Something that's been making the rounds on the Darknet. The Colleagues then had all the video footage in the city checked for the identifying Features and Contacts, that we could connect to Cayden. And they had two hits right away. They just apprehended him at the hotel."

"When does our flight leave?"

"In two hours... Halstead, we have enough Circumstantial Evidence to link him to the kidnappings and to the murders. We have his fingerprints on the bomb. He's going to suffer in a hole for the rest of his life."

"I still want to talk to him", Jay said firmly.

"I understand that. But we have to leave the field to the Authorities in Minneapolis. We'll be watching and offering our support.", he placed both hands on his shoulders, as he stood in front of him. "We will wait for our turn and then we will watch this sick Bastard disappear behind bars. That's the most important thing, okay?"

Jay looked at him tensely and finally nodded.  
  
  


/

  
  
After arriving at the Precinct in Minneapolis and getting acquainted with the Colleagues in charge there, they followed some Detectives to the interrogation rooms, where Cayden had already been questioned on and off for hours.

"He hasn't asked for a lawyer yet. He's answering any questions we have. It almost seems like he's proud of his past and that he enjoys putting the cards on the table," said Detective Miner, one of the Colleagues on scene, who had already spoken with Cayden.

"He's fully aware that this is his stage. That he's going to be behind bars for the rest of his life. He's very clever, I would say he's sociopathic, shows no compassion for his victims," Seargent Olson explained, as they entered the room behind the one-way mirror.

Jay looked at the man in the suit with disgust. Seeing him in custody now, after all that had happened, gave him no satisfaction. Rather, this man disgusted him. Deep down, Jay wished that violence would be done to him, as it had been done to his numerous victims.

Cayden was tall, slender, and wore a neat full beard. His steel-blue eyes kept darting back and forth between the two Detectives in the room, as if he was analyzing them.

"Can we talk to him?", Seargent Voight asked after a few minutes, while they had been listening to the conversation in the next room.

"One of you can go in with both of us, we'll switch in a minute.", Seargent Olson said.

Voight turned to Jay and looked at him firmly. "You're doing this, Jay. But stand down. I understand that you'd like to beat this guy to a pulp. Hell, I'd love to take him on a little tour... But this ain't Chicago, do you understand?"

Jay gritted his teeth and nodded. He had to try to keep himself in check.

"Okay.", Voight patted him supportively on the shoulder.  
  
  


/

  
  
Cayden's face brightened, when Jay entered the room with the two Detectives.

"Detective Halstead. Badge number 51163... I was wondering, when you'd show up here.", he said, smiling. "How is Miss Hillsen?"

Cayden sat attentively at the interrogation room table with his handcuffed hands placed in front of him and with his fingers interlocked. Jay looked at him and stood in a corner of the room, while Detective Miner and Seargent Olson took their seats in the chairs. Cayden paid no attention to either of them, but kept his gaze firmly on Jay.

"Have you made a full recovery by now?", he continued. "I hope my little surprises have not caused you too much inconvenience."

"Mr. Cayden, what is this about?", Seargent Olson addressed him. "We're here to further talk about the charges you've been accused of."

Cayden turned his head and glared at the Seargent. "I want to talk to him alone. Or I'm not going to say anything more, from now on."

The two Officers looked questioningly at Jay, who nodded as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. The two Detectives left the room, Jay approached the table and stopped behind one of the chairs.

"So?", he then asked tensely, as he gripped the back of the chair with his fingers. "You do realize, that they're still watching everything through the one-way mirror?"

"But now I have your full attention.", Cayden replied arrogantly as he eyed him. "You haven't answered my questions."

"I won´t.", he said. "Are you going to answer mine?"

"Maybe."

"Good.", Jay sat down. He tried to keep his emotions in check. "Why Fiora? Of all the women you've had abused or killed by others, why couldn't you leave her alone? Hadn't she been through enough?"

Cayden smiled. "Woods was just supposed to correct his mistake."

"What mistake?"

"What mistake?", he repeated his words mockingly. "What do you think? He had let her live, I wanted to see her dead!"

Jay swallowed and it took a moment, before he could continue. He felt anger rise inside him.

"Is that why you had Macie Hold killed? Because you wanted to see how it ended?"

Cayden shook his head. "No. That was just a little reminder to you and your team, that I'm still around and that I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. But I have to admit, witnessing her death was a nice bonus."

Jay's anger flared. "And with Fiora? Almost fifteen years later, you gave Woods the order to end it? Why did you wait so long?"

"It was entirely her fault. Miss Hillsen also made a mistake... She came back to him."

Jay frowned. "You mean, back to Chicago?", Cayden nodded and Jay continued, upset. "That was her home. All she wanted, was to come home!"

"My rules. My decisions."

"Oh, yes?" Jay exclaimed, his anger flaring up. "Let me tell you something. Now it's my rules and my decisions!", he slapped the table with the flat of his hand and leaned forward. "You'll never get out of the hole, that we're going to put you in! You'll never be able to see further than the nearest cell wall, because you'll be transferred to a Maximum Security prison! No contacts! No more freedoms, no more making your own decisions! This will be your life from now on!"

Cayden laughed softly and leaned back. "You're so delightfully naive, Detective.", he said. Jay looked uncomprehendingly into those cold, blue eyes opposite him. "I have everything I need with me at all times." Cayden raised his hands. He tapped his index finger against his temple. "Eidetic memory. I have them all stored up here. Every video, every photo, every audio recording, every detail...", he closed his eyes and smiled. "Mhmmm, Miss Hillsen was so... innocent."

The chair tipped over, as Jay jumped up and stormed around the table. After a second, he was at Cayden's side, grabbing his neck with both hands. He dragged him up and pushed him against the nearest wall behind him. He was incredibly furious and he wanted to hurt him. Cayden, on the other hand, just stared at him triumphantly. Jay heard the door behind them being yanked open.

"If we were in Chicago, I'd put a bullet in your damn skull!", he whispered in Cayden's ear, before he was being grabbed by several hands and dragged out of the room within the next instant.  
  
  


/

  
  
Hesitantly, Jay walked towards the old Brick house and took the steps to the front door. A moment later, he pressed the doorbell. Then, the door opened and Fiora's mother appeared in the doorway.

"Oh, Jay!", she hugged him and pulled him close for a moment. "How was your flight?"

"All good.", he said, smiling weakly.

Amelia had invited him to their home after he had told her, that Cayden had finally been arrested. He had agreed to fly to Boston for a weekend and to bring Fiora's personal belongings with him.

"Come on in.", she stepped aside and he took the Suitcase, that held her things. He followed Amelia into the house. "Thank you for making the extra trip. But after the news that the last Suspect has now been arrested, we just wanted to see you and to thank you in person."

"I didn't contribute to his arrest.", he said. "It was made by the Colleagues in Minneapolis."

"Don't be so modest. I know you and your team worked tirelessly to catch this man."

He followed her into the living room, where Mr. Hillsen sat in an armchair. Fiora's father had been on an Oxygen machine for some time and he wore a nasal tube to help him breathe. Jay was startled, when he saw how much Mr. Hillsen had changed, how old he had become...

He walked over to him and shook his hand. "Sir.", was all he said.

"Glad you're here, kid,", the older man said softly. "Have a seat." He pointed to the couch and Jay sat down. He placed the suitcase down beside him.

"Coffee?", Mrs. Hillsen asked and he nodded. She disappeared into the kitchen.

He felt terribly out of place. What had he been thinking, coming here immediately after the flight, instead of going to the Hotel first?

"Jay?", the voice of Fiora's father brought him back to reality. "We're really grateful. Thank you for taking care of everything. It's my fault, that we couldn't be there..."

"There´s nothing to thank for, Sir...", he replied. „Here's the suitcase with Fioras most important things for you."

He gulped, but then Mrs. Hillsen came back and handed him a coffee mug. She took a seat next to him. For a moment, there was an oppressive silence in the room.

"You asked me for something.", Amelia then said and went to a small cabinet in the corner of the room. She pulled open a drawer, took out a small envelope and handed it to him. "Take it with you."

Jay knew what was in the envelope and he nodded gratefully. He hadn't found a single photo of her, when he´d cleaned out Fiora's apartment. She had never posted a picture of herself on Social Media and he couldn´t find one on her camera as well. But he wanted to be able to remember her, if the worst actually happened. So he had written to her mother and had asked for a picture of her.

"It's from last Christmas.", she said. "She didn't know I was taking the picture. She hates having her picture taken...", Mrs. Hillsen's eyes filled with tears and Mr. Hillsen cleared his throat. Jay lowered his gaze and ran his fingers over the envelope. "We really don't know what to do.", Amelia then said in a trembling voice.

Jay had been aware, that this visit would be difficult. But he hadn't wanted to leave Fiora's parents alone with the decision. The doctors had told the couple, that by now, they no longer believed that Fiora would ever regain consciousness. The money for treatments had run out weeks ago and Jay knew that her parents had borrowed money from everywhere to keep paying the hospital bills.

"Maybe this time, she'll be able to breathe on her own.", he said, though he knew himself, how unlikely his hope was. "Then she could be brought here."

"We still hope it so much.", Amelia replied.

At that moment the phone rang and she got up. Jay was left alone in the room with Mr. Hillsen, sipping his coffee in silence.

Suddenly, Amelia stormed back into the room with the phone in her hand, her cheeks wet with tears and Jay already feared the worst. But then, all at once, she laughed in relief.

"It's Dr. Charles!", she exclaimed, sobbing. "Fiora's awake! She's awake!"

Jay had immediately booked Amelia on his own flight back to Chicago, which had been scheduled for the next noon. He was excited, when they reached the Chicago Medical Center.

Amelia had asked him to come along, although he had offered her, to see Fiora alone at first. But since Mr. Hillsen couldn't be there, she was eager to have him along.

First, however, Dr. Charles wanted to talk to them. All he had said on the phone was, that Fiora was responsive and that she had asked for her parents. Jay took that as a good sign. They just entered the Neurology ward and went to the Registration desk. After a short wait, they were sent to Dr. Charles' office.

"Mrs. Hillsen, Mr. Halstead.", he greeted them both, as he shook their hands. "It's good to have you here."

"You've given us good news, too. Finally.", Amelia said with a smile and audible relief, as she sat down. "How is she?"

Jay took a seat as well, scrutinizing the older Doctor's face intently. Dr. Charles seemed to brace himself internally before continuing to speak and Jay felt a knot forming in his stomach.

"Mrs. Hillsen, Fiora woke up yesterday and considering the last few months, she's really in surprisingly good shape."

"But?" Jay asked, almost unable to stand the tension.

Dr. Charles' gaze now shifted to him. "She doesn't remember what happened."

"But, that's a good thing, right? If she doesn't remember all the bad things that happened in Chicago?", Amelia asked.

"Mrs. Hillsen, Fiora suffers from a special form of memory loss. We call it Retrograde Amnesia. She remembers things from her older past, but she no longer remembers the recent past."

Jay slowly he realized what the doctor was getting at. "How far back does her last memory go?", he asked quietly.

"'When she was fifteen or sixteen,", Dr. Charles replied, and Jay bowed his head. "Fiora is aware, that she is now an adult and that something unusual has happened to her, but for her, these years have simply vanished from her memory."

Jay took a deep breath and Amelia squeezed his hand. He had met Fiora, when they were seventeen. So that meant, that she didn't remember him...

"Can her memory come back?", he asked in a strained voice.

"Sometimes, it comes back, yes.", Dr. Charles looked at him sympathetically. "But Fiora's Cerebral Injuries are in the region of the brain, where long-term memories are stored. That's where the most damage was done. I therefore assume, that she will not recover her memories. I'm sorry, Mr. Halstead."  
  
  


/

  
  
After the initial shock during the conversation with Dr. Charles, Jay was still trying to accept the facts. He sat in a small waiting room and nervously kneaded his hands.

His emotions were a mess. He was incredibly glad and grateful, that Fiora had woken up and that she seemed to be doing well. But the fact, that she didn't remember him pained him so much, that he felt he could hardly breathe. It was almost, as if he´d lost her again after all that time of waiting and hoping, of slowly accepting that she wasn't coming back.

"Jay?", Amelia appeared in the doorway and looked at him sympathetically. "She'd like to see you."

He looked at her and hesitated. "But, she doesn't know who I am?"

She shook her head. "The doctors and I, we have been trying to gently teach her what happened. She's also desperate to know... But no, she doesn't remember you."

He nodded and swallowed. Then he slowly rose from the chair, where he had been sitting for the last two hours. He followed Amelia with uncertain steps into a room on the opposite side of the hall.

A moment later, his gaze fell on Fiora. She was sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked at him intently and he felt himself start to tremble inside. He had to try to keep his emotions in check somehow. Amelia sat down on a chair in the corner of the room, giving them their space.

"Hello.", Fiora said, as he continued to approach.

She wore a pink wool cap over her short hair. After all these weeks, she was finally wearing normal clothes, instead of a hospital gown. She almost looked like herself again, although because of the long time in Coma, she looked visibly weakened.

"Hello...", he answered hesitantly. "How are you?", he stopped a few steps from her.

"I'm okay, really.", she said guardedly. She let her gaze wander over his face briefly, then she lowered her head. "They explained to me, how this would go, but it feels so strange..."

"Yeah...", he said awkwardly, smiling slightly. "I don't think you can really prepare for something like this." He felt a deep sadness grip him all at once, as he finally realized that this person in front of him, was not the one he knew. "Don't you remember anything?", he asked softly.

She looked at him again and shook her head. "I'm sorry."

He pressed his lips together and avoided her gaze. He had known the facts before, but hearing it now from herself, was something else.

"I remember a lot of things from my childhood, my youth, my parents. Our house in Chicago..", she continued. "But other than that..."

Jay nodded and let the words sink in. He looked down at the floor.

"Jason?", she asked softly. "I'm sorry."

He raised his head and looked at her, while he shook his head slightly. "Jay. Just Jay...", he said, stepping a little closer.

"Jay. I thank you for being here.", she finally said hesitantly. "My mom told me, that you took care of everything here. Thank you so much for that. She also told me that my dad is very sick. And I want to go back to Boston with her, as soon as possible... And I'll probably need a few more surgeries and I want to be as close to my family as possible."

„Of course.", he answered. „You don´t have to explain anything to me."

She smiled weakly and he felt his eyes fill with tears. He turned his back on her, not wanting this to be any harder for her than it already was. Quickly wiping his eyes, he tried to calm down again. He took a breath and then he turned back around.

"I can't imagine what this must be like for you. I'm so sorry," Fiora added.

He realized that he had to let her go. That it was over. He had to accept that he had already lost her on the day, when they had returned from Wisconsin.

"You don't have to be sorry. I just wish you the very best.", he began in a trembling voice. "If you or your family, if you ever need my help, I'll be here, okay?" She nodded and looked at him sympathetically. He continued. "I have one last request."

"Yes?"

"Don't try to find out too much about your past, promise me that.", he hesitated. "And if you go through your things, then you will find a camera with many wonderful pictures. Please, publish them. You have such a talent."

"I don't know... I take pictures?", she asked, surprised.

"Yes. You'll see", he smiled encouragingly at her. "Just start over, Fiora. You deserve it."

She smiled shyly and at least he had the hope of having left something with her. Maybe at least, this one little piece of advice that he hoped, she would follow.  
  
  


/

  
  
That night, Jay hadn't been able to be alone at home anymore and he'd ended up going to Molly's, where he'd met Erin. They were sitting at the Counter and he had just told her as best he could, what had happened at the hospital.

"I'm very sorry.", she said, looking at him, visibly moved. "It's not fair."

He expelled the air from his lungs and laughed humorlessly. "Well, what's even fair in our lives?"

Erin put a hand on his back. "She gets to start over and she doesn´t remember all the bad things from her past. Maybe that will give you some comfort."

He looked at her and nodded slowly. "Yes, that's what I think, too. But..."

"Jay." she interrupted him. "I know... It will take time, but it will get better. It hurts, but we're all here for you. The family at the Station... You know that, right?"

"Yes, of course. Thank you.", he lowered his gaze.

She caressed his arm briefly, then she picked up her glass and raised it. "To family."

He did the same and toasted her.

"To family." he said wanly, but he was glad that she was there for him at that moment.  
  
  


/

  
  
A few months later, Jay was about to leave the Precinct after his shift, when Seargent Platt called after him.

"Hey, Loverboy!"

He stopped and rolled his eyes. Ever since he and Erin had made it public that they were a couple, she'd been having fun with teasing him constantly. He turned and walked to the Reception Desk.

"Seargent?", he glanced at her, annoyed.

"I have a package here for you.", she pulled out a flat box from under the counter. "Don't even dream of using me as a Mailroom in the future, okay?"

He frowned. "I didn't have anything delivered in here."

"Wouldn't advise it, either.", she handed him the package and then she proceeded to fill out the form in front of her, without giving him another look.

Jay took the box under his arm and left the Precinct. Outside, he turned it over and looked for the return address. It was a Publishing house... in Boston.

Immediately, his heart beat a little faster and he hurried to get to his car. After taking a seat in the driver's seat, he pulled off the tape of the package and opened it.

It was a book, wrapped in bubble wrap. He took it out and unwrapped the foil.

Then he faltered, as his gaze fell on the Bookcover. It was an Illustrated Book and the photo on the Cover showed... him.

It was the picture that Fiora had taken at the Jetty. He could only be seen from behind, with Wilson sitting next to him in the morning sun. He swallowed and glanced at the book's title.

"Memories of a Stranger"

He held the book in his hand for a moment, undecided if he was ready to open it.

Then he discovered, that there was an envelope inside the package. He took it and opened it. It was a handwritten card from Fiora.  
  
  


_/_

_Dear Jay,_

_I hope you will forgive me for addressing you in this way. I have taken your advice to heart and I thank you immensely for it._

_I first published my photos and my story on a blog. A little later, I was approached by a Publisher and the result is now in your hands._

_I sincerely hope that you are doing well. And of course I also wish you only the very best for your future._

_Fiora._

_/  
  
  
_

His hands trembled all at once and he stared at the lines for a moment longer, before folding the card shut. On the front was a drawn Phoenix and he smiled involuntarily at the fitting illustration of Fiora's situation. Then he took the book in his hands again and began to flip through it.

The first pages showed photos of places, Fiora must had visited in the past. She had written notes next to some of the pictures, saying that she could not remember ever having been to the places, but that she associated strong emotions with the photos. Detailed photos of buildings, windows and doors followed.

Some of them had very personal remarks that revealed a lot about how she´d learned to deal with the unfamiliar situation.

The next pages were dominated by her beautiful nature shots. Next to one picture it said that she knew for sure, that she loved being on that very beach and walking through the wet sand. She knew it without ever having been there in her "Second Life," as she called it. Jay kept turning the pages.

He recognized the following pictures immediately. They had been taken on their trip to Wisconsin. The garden behind the house, the Jetty by the river, the Fireflies. He smiled, as the memories caught up with him. She had been so excited and had tried everything possible to capture the little points of light on her pictures.

He turned the page and had reached the last page, which once again showed the photo from the cover. Him, on the Jetty.

The text next to the picture said:

_Sometimes, I think I see something flashing in the shadows. But I cannot grasp it. And then it disappears in the darkness again. These are the days when I long for something Unknown and somehow I know that the Unknown, is you..._   
  
  


/

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and for your "Kudos" :-)


End file.
